Russian activist Alexei Navalny appeals sentence

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Russian activist Alexei Navalny appealed his suspended sentence for an embezzlement conviction, his lawyer said Friday.

Lawyer Vadim Kobzev said Navalny and accomplice Piotr Ofitserov appealed their suspended sentences. They were found guilty on Feb. 8, in a retrial, of misusing funds of the state-owned Kirovles timber company. The court said Navalny, while working as a government aide in 2009, embezzled $270,000 from the company. The conviction bars Navalny, a frequent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, from running in the 2018 presidential election.

Navalny received a five-year suspended sentence and a fine. Ofitserov received a four-year suspended sentence and a fine.

Navalny and Ofitserov were previously convicted of the crime, and were retried after the European Court of Human Rights ruled their rights were violated in the first trial.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered no comment on Navalny's appeal, only saying the Russian judicial procedure was "legitimate."