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Putin says he had no role in release of Alexei Navalny from jail

MOSCOW, July 22 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had nothing to do with the decision to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny after his corruption conviction.

Navalny, a whistle-blowing blogger and politician who's running for mayor of Moscow against a Putin-backed establishment politician, was convicted last week of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison -- charges Western human rights experts condemned.

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Navalny has maintained the charges are politically motivated and aimed at ending his candidacy. In Russia, people convicted of crimes are barred from running for office though because Navalny has yet to exhaust his appeals he could still campaign ahead of the Sept. 8 mayoral election, RIA Novosti said Monday.

A day after the sentence was handed down, the Prosecutor General's Office petitioned the court to release Navalny, prompting mass speculation about who was behind the decision.

One Russian newspaper said Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's interim mayor and Navalny's Putin-backed opponent in the election, personally asked for Navalny's release. The report didn't say why a political opponent would seek Navalny's release.

A Putin spokesman said the president had nothing to do with the decision to release Navalny.

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