MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court has rejected Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal against his prison sentence. The Moscow City Court’s ruling came even as the country faced a top European rights court’s order to free the Kremlin’s most prominent foe. Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic, was sentenced earlier this month to two years and eight months in prison for violating terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled to be unlawful. Navalny has asked the Moscow City Court to overturn the sentence and set him free.
