Evgeny Feldman / AP
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, and his former colleague Pyotr Ofitserov, foreground, appear in court in Kirov, Russia, on Thursday.
By Albina Kovalyova, Producer, NBC News
MOSCOW -- Russia's leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny was found guilty of embezzlement on Thursday,?a verdict that could prevent him challenging Vladimir Putin for the presidency.
The 37-year-old lawyer turned anti-corruption blogger was found guilty of stealing about $480,000 from state-owned timber company Kirovles. Navalny has said the trial is politically motivated.
At a hearing in city of Kirov, Judge Sergei Blinov did not immediately state the sentence but the case's prosecutor has called for a six-year prison term.?The crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.?
"The court, having examined the case, has established that Navalny organized a crime and ... the theft of property on a particularly large scale," the judge said.
Navalny is the most prominent opposition leader to be tried in Russia since Soviet times.?
He rose to prominence in the wake of the last Russian parliamentary and presidential elections in late 2011 and early 2012 and has been a thorn in the side of President Vladimir Putin.
He once branded Putin's United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves" -- a phrase which became popular during the anti-government demonstrations following the elections.
Up to 100,000 demonstrators took to Moscow's streets in cold winter conditions to protest the parliamentary election results amid widespread reports of violations of rules at polling stations.
Navalny took to the stage and called for a Russia without Putin. "Who is the power here? We are the power here!" he bellowed.
His political ambitions have long been public. Navalny has said that he wants to run for the 2018 presidency. ?Earlier this week, he received confirmation of his registration request to take part in the upcoming Moscow mayoral elections. They are due to take place in September.
Navalny's trial has been compared to that of the former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once one of the richest men in Russia, and an outspoken critic of Putin. He has been in prison since his arrest 2005, and has been found guilty of tax evasion and fraud in two legal cases. Sources say that a third trial is already in the works against the former billionaire.
However, Alexei Mukin the director of the Center for Political Information believes that the "only similarity between Navalny and Khodorkovsky is that they both are positioning their cases as political."
Mukhin said that the case was likely to be followed by condemnation both in Russia and abroad.
An unsanctioned demonstration was already planned for Thursday night near Moscow's Red Square. Security was tight around the area on Thursday morning.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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This story was originally published on Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:31 AM EDT
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