MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny cannot run for president as he was convicted of embezzlement, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
"According to our legislation, the people disqualified [as a result of past convictions], indeed, cannot participate in presidential election," Peskov said.
Navalny has been trying to appeal the guilty verdict to be able to announce his candidature for the 2018 presidential election in Russia.
1 August 2016, 09:50 GMT
On November 16, Russia’s Supreme Court overturned the sentence against Navalny and initiated a retrial of the case on the state-run timber company Kirovles.
In 2012, Navalny and his associate Pyotr Ofitserov were convicted of setting up a criminal scheme to steal timber from KirovLes, resulting in a $255,000 loss to the regional budget. A five-year prison term sentence handed down to Navalny by court was suspended.
