Top Putin critic Navalny freed by Russian court

Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny escaped being sent to a penal colony on controversial charges he claims were ordered by the Kremlin after a court converted his five-year term into a suspended sentence.

President Vladimir Putin’s most vehement critic walked free from court after the appeal verdict, although the embezzlement conviction that disqualifies him from politics remains.

The three judges hearing the appeal at the regional court in the northern Kirov region said they would “change the sentence for Alexei Navalny into a suspended term”.