On Wednesday, October 16, a court in Russia passed a suspended sentence upon a famous opposition leader and a Moscow mayoral candidate Alexey Navalny on embezzlement charges.

      The decision by Kirov Region Court marks a softening of the five-year prison term ordered in July 2013. However, it prevents Navalny from taking part in further elections as a candidate or changing the place of residence without informing the special inspection body.

      While commenting on the court's decision, Navalny said he wasn't going to finish his political career due to the suspended sentence.

      Navalny’s lawyer told Russian legal news agency RAPSI that they would appeal, as they disagree “in principle” both with the case and with the guilty verdict.

      Navalny was sentenced to five years in prison in July on charges that he embezzled produce at a state-owned timber company in the Kirov Region while working as an unpaid advisor to the local governor in 2008. His business partner Pyotr Ofitserov had been sentenced to four years and also received the suspended sentence on October 16.

      Both Navalny and Ofitserov denied their guilt. Navalny argued in his defense that he was only fighting the company’s inefficient and corrupt management.

      Navalny, 37, a lawyer and an anti-corruption blogger, has risen to become one of the most prominent faces of the Russian opposition movement since the start of mass protest rallies in Moscow in late 2011. In September 2013 Navalny took part in an election campaign for post of Moscow mayor and came the second after the Kremlin-backed politician with 27 percent of the vote.