Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (UFSIN) has requested opposition leader Alexei Navalny be imprisoned, instead of serving out a suspended sentence, Moscow’s district court announced Tuesday.
Moscow’s Simonovksy court received UFSIN’s request on Tuesday, court spokesman Viktor Vasiliev told RIA Novosti news agency.
Navalny was handed a five-year suspended sentence for fraud in 2013. Prison officials have petitioned courts unsuccessfully twice before to cancel the sentence.
UFSIN’s request cites an article in the Criminal Code which allows a suspended sentence to be replaced if a defendant violates public order more than twice within one year.
UFSIN says a series of anti-corruption protests organized by Navalny constitutes a violation of the code.
Navalny was detained for 25 days for organizing anti-corruption rallies in Moscow on Russia Day, June 12. Investigators have recently carried out searches of Navalny’s offices in several cities.