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19 July 2013 Last updated at 08:38 GMT

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# Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny freed on bail

Footage from inside court shows scenes of relief as Alexei Navalny was freed on bail

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## Putin's Russia

- Profile: Alexei Navalny
- Navalny: A Mandela moment?
- Fates of Putin's enemies
- Profile: Vladimir Putin

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been freed from jail pending an appeal, a day after being sentenced to five years for embezzlement.

The court ruled that keeping him in custody would deprive him of his right to stand in the mayoral elections in Moscow in September.

Thousands of Russians had protested against his conviction, saying it was politically motivated.

Navalny is a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The elections in Moscow are on 8 September and - for now at least - he is being allowed to campaign, says the BBC's Daniel Sandford.

Travel restrictions

On Thursday, Navalny was found guilty of heading a group that embezzled timber worth 16m roubles ($500,000; £330,000) from the Kirovles state timber company while working as an adviser to Kirov's governor Nikita Belykh.

Continue reading the main story

## Alexei Navalny's rise to prominence

- 2008: Started blogging about allegations of corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled firms
- Nov 2011: Ahead of parliamentary poll, he criticised President Putin's United Russia, famously dubbing it the "party of crooks and thieves"
- Dec 2011: After the poll, he inspired mass protests against the Kremlin, and was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days
- Oct 2012: Won most votes in a poll to choose opposition leadership
- April 2013: Went on trial
- July 2013: Declared himself a candidate for Moscow mayoral election
- July 2013: Given five-year jail term for theft and embezzlement

- Profile: Alexei Navalny
- A thorn in Putin's side

At the end of a three-hour verdict reading, he was sentenced to five years in jail.

But on Friday, the Kirov regional court took just over an hour to hear the bail case and make its decision.

The three judges decided that, as Navalny had not breached his bail conditions during the trial, he should allowed to await the appeal decision at home in Moscow.

Navalny and his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov were immediately released, and Navalny embraced his wife Yulia.

"I am very grateful to all the people who supported us, all the people who went to [protest on Moscow's] Manezh Square and other squares," he said.

It was not just the defence pleading Navalny's case. In an unexpected move, prosecutors also pushed for him to remain free, with travel restrictions, pending his appeal.

Analysts said this could be an attempt by officials to soothe public anger over the case.

After the verdict on Thursday there were violent scuffles, as thousands of people took to the streets in Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities in protests that continued late into the evening. Reports said dozens were detained by police.

Scuffles broke out on the streets of Moscow after the verdict

Other countries questioned the fairness of the verdict, with the EU saying it posed "serious questions" about the rule of law in Russia, while the US said it was "deeply disappointed".

A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the trial had "raised doubts about whether criminal justice was the main motive".

The Kremlin denies that Mr Putin uses courts for political ends, and the judge rejected Navalny's claim that the trial was politically motivated.

Navalny, 37, is a leading campaigner against President Putin's United Russia party and has regularly blogged about corruption allegations.

He came to public attention when he inspired mass protests against the Kremlin and President Putin in December 2011.

Before he was led away to jail on Thursday, Navalny urged his supporters to continue his anti-corruption struggle, tweeting: "Don't sit around doing nothing."

## More on This Story

### Putin's Russia

#### Features and analysis

- ##### Profile: Alexei Navalny

  Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny has emerged as the informal leader of the opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

- ##### Navalny: A Mandela moment?

- ##### Fates of Putin's enemies

- ##### Profile: Vladimir Putin

- ##### How Russia reported Navalny trial

- ##### Q&A: The Magnitsky affair

- ##### Trial of dead Magnitsky 'a travesty'

- ##### Khodorkovsky's mother speaks out

- ##### A palace fit for a tsar

#### Backgrounders

- ##### Russia country profile

- ##### Russian arms 'to stabilise Syria'

- ##### Faces to watch in Russia

- ##### Who was Alexander Litvinenko?

#### Video

- ##### Russian opposition activist guilty Watch

#### Economy

- ##### Russia embraces technology projects

- ##### Russia's growth stifled by corruption

### Related Stories

- Thorn in Putin's side
  19 JULY 2013, EUROPE
- The fates of Putin's enemies
  18 JULY 2013, EUROPE
- Profile: Alexei Navalny
  19 JULY 2013, EUROPE
- Russian media coverage
  18 JULY 2013, EUROPE

### From other news sites

- #### Telegraph Alexei Navalny freed on bail 1 hr ago

- #### The Independent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny bailed after protesters denounce jail sentence 1 hr ago

- #### Yahoo! UK and Ireland Navalny unexpectedly freed ahead of Moscow polls 1 hr ago

- #### Guardian.co.uk Alexei Navalny released from custody 2 hrs ago

- #### London Evening Standard Putin opponent jailed in embezzlement case 24 hrs ago

- About these results

### Related Internet links

- Navalny blog - in Russian
- United Russia - in Russian
- Amnesty International

### Around the BBC

- BBC Radio 4 Profile: Alexei Navalny

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