Russian opposition leader Navalny to be put under house arrest

MOSCOW, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A Russian court Friday ordered opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be placed under house arrest and prevented from using the Internet.

Navalny, a whistle-blowing blogger and politician who ran for mayor of Moscow against a Putin-backed establishment politician, is being investigated for allegedly defrauding French cosmetics giant Yves Rocher out of $790,000.

Judge Artur Karpov made the ruling after an investigator complaint that Navalny allegedly violated his bail terms, the state-supported RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Preventing Navalny from using the Internet would keep him from updating his widely followed Twitter account and blog, which he uses to rally anti-government supporters, RIA Novosti said.

The house arrest would be effective up to 60 days.