KIROV, Russia — Russia’s most prominent opposition leader was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday for embezzlement, setting off protests that condemned the verdict as part of a campaign by President Vladimir V. Putin to corral the opposition and block the rise of a popular challenger. 
 
 Aleksei A. Navalny, who famously branded the president’s United Russia political machine the “party of swindlers and thieves,” was apparently singled out by the Kremlin after having grown in stature from his beginnings as an anticorruption blogger and leader of street protests to a populist candidate for mayor of Moscow. 
 
 But it may ultimately be that same popularity — and the threat of further unrest — that keeps him free for at least some time. In what has the fingerprints of a politically designed plan, the public prosecutor, shortly after the handcuffed prisoner was led away, called on the judge to allow his release on Friday pending his appeal. That could keep Mr. Navalny out of prison for more than a month, perhaps temporarily neutralizing the anger at the verdict while allowing him to run for mayor in September. 
 
 As crowds of demonstrators swirled near Manezh Square in Moscow on Thursday night, Dmitri Gudkov, a political opposition leader and member of Parliament who attended Mr. Navalny’s sentencing, wrote on Twitter: “Tomorrow morning he may be released. Manezh, this is thanks to you!” That was later confirmed by Vadim Kobzev, Mr. Navalny’s lawyer, who called it “a clearly political decision.” 
 
 The Navalny case has captivated Moscow. When speaking before a crowd, Mr. Navalny projects a raw, common-man’s charisma. He was the point person in a popular opposition movement in which huge numbers of demonstrators poured into the streets demanding the rule of law and political reform. But when Mr. Putin returned to the presidency, his crackdown managed to discourage or frighten many of Mr. Navalny’s supporters — young, professional, tech-savvy Russians — into silence. 
 
 Mr. Navalny, however, refused to be cowed, and while others fled to preserve their freedom, he willingly stood trial. 
 
 The sentence represented a threshold for the Kremlin. For the past 12 years, Russian authorities typically refrained from using blunt force to sideline political challengers. Opposition members would be banned from government-controlled television, overwhelmingly the most powerful influence on public opinion. They would be co-opted with jobs or platforms, discredited by the release of embarrassing material or jailed with 15-day administrative sentences. 
 
 But Mr. Navalny’s sentence was a rare case in which a political opposition leader was transparently silenced using Russia’s criminal justice system. 
 
 “I think it’s always hard to say which point is the bifurcation point, the threshold after which there is irreversibility,” said Sergei Guriev, a public supporter of Mr. Navalny’s and a prominent Russian economist who recently fled to France, fearing his own political prosecution. “But this is certainly one of the big moves.” 
 
 “The message is that whatever you do, even if you do socially useful things, if you are in opposition to the government, you are going to jail,” Mr. Guriev said. He added: “He is the face of the Russian opposition. He is the face of the younger generation. What happens to him determines the future of Russia.” 
 
 Mr. Putin has shown a willingness to tolerate a certain amount of dissent, particularly on the Internet. But he has drawn the line at political challenges, as he did with the oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was imprisoned in 2005 after he began backing independent political parties to oppose the Kremlin. He remains in prison. 
 
 Mr. Navalny, 37, a lawyer, had long dismissed the trial as a charade based on trumped-up charges, a contention backed by the United States and the European Union. He remained defiant, spending much of the three-hour session in a local court here posting messages and photographs on Twitter, ignoring an order from Judge Sergei Blinov to shut off all cellphones and denouncing the evidence against him as “falsified.” 
 
 Before being led out of court, he sent followers one last message: “O.K. Don’t miss me. And most importantly — do not be lazy.” 
 
 If his conviction is upheld on appeal, Mr. Navalny will be banned from public office for life. He has said he wants to be president one day, but he posed a different sort of threat: a steadily growing popularity combined with an incorruptibility that made him impossible to co-opt and a relentlessness in embarrassing officials by disclosing their corrupt dealings. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Navalny's supporters have vowed to continue the struggle 
 
 Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny has been jailed for five years, for embezzlement from a timber firm. 
 
 Navalny had denied the charges, saying the trial was politically motivated. 
 
 The 37-year-old had been a leading campaigner against President Putin's United Russia party, and regularly blogged about corruption allegations. 
 
 The EU said the verdict posed "serious questions" about the state of Russian law. The US said it was "deeply disappointed". 
 
 Before he was handcuffed and led away, Navalny urged his supporters to continue his anti-corruption struggle, tweeting: "Don't sit around doing nothing." 
 
 Navalny has previously said he would like to stand for president one day. 
 
 He had recently registered his candidacy for the next mayor of Moscow, but his campaign team said that after the verdict he was withdrawing from the race, and called on his supporters to boycott the vote. 
 
 Analysis Minutes after Judge Blinov started reading from the substantial sheaf of papers, it became evident the two defendants, Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov, were going to be found guilty. Seasoned observers of this trial were just about able to pick up the judge's words. Others were bewildered by the hum-like reading. Entering the courtroom just before the verdict reading started, both defendants were far from gloomy. "Why sad faces?" quipped Navalny, walking past dozens of journalists and a row of cameras. Navalny has long acquired the skill of tweeting and blogging while interminable financial documents were read by prosecution, defence and, now, judge. Publishing his fiery comments on politics, corruption and the need to unite in opposition to Vladimir Putin's regime - that's one of the many things he won't be able to do from behind bars, waiting for the sentence to be appealed against. 
 
 'Explosion of anger' 
 
 The BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford says that when the sentence was handed down, there were tears from Navalny's supporters and an explosion of anger on the social networking sites that he has used so effectively. 
 
 Anti-Putin activist and former cabinet minister Boris Nemtsov told reporters the trial was "completely fabricated from start to finish, and even the judge could not say what the reason for the crime was". 
 
 Other countries have also voiced their concern at the verdict. The US ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, said: "We are deeply disappointed in the conviction of Navalny and the apparent political motivations in this trial." 
 
 A spokesperson for the EU's top foreign policy official, Catherine Ashton, said the embezzlement charges were unsubstantiated, and that Navalny's jailing posed "serious questions as to the state of the rule of law in Russia". 
 
 French foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot added his concern, but said: "We note that not all judicial remedies have been exhausted and that the sentence could be reviewed on appeal." 
 
 Navalny's supporters in Moscow have vowed to stage protests against the verdict later on Thursday. 
 
 'Almost inevitable' 
 
 Navalny arrived at the courtroom in Kirov to hear the verdict after a 12-hour overnight train journey from Moscow. 
 
 Our correspondent said Navalny smiled in a resigned manner when the almost inevitable guilty verdict came. 
 
 His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said her husband knew he would get a non-suspended sentence and was mentally prepared to go to prison. 
 
 Navalny was found guilty of heading a group that embezzled timber worth 16m rubles ($500,000; £330,000) from the Kirovles state timber company while working as an adviser to Kirov's governor Nikita Belykh. 
 
 The prosecution had asked for a six-year jail sentence, but judge Sergei Blinov decided on five years, and said there were no extenuating circumstances that would warrant keeping Navalny out of prison. 
 
 Navalny's co-accused, Pyotr Ofitserov, was also found guilty, and given a four-year jail sentence. 
 
 "Navalny... committed a grave crime," said Judge Blinov as he delivered the sentence. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Alexei Navalny (centre) took a 12-hour train journey to Kirov for the verdict. Image copyright AP Image caption As he had throughout the trial, Navalny kept his followers up-to-date on social media. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Judge Sergei Blinov said Navalny had committed a "grave crime", and sentenced him to five years in jail. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Navalny had expected the verdict, but it could put his hopes of running for Moscow mayor in doubt. Image copyright Reuters Image caption After hugging his wife, and tweeting to his followers not to "sit and do nothing", Navalny was led away to jail. previous slide next slide 
 
 State television has only shown limited interest in the process despite Navalny's prominence, but online the trial has been followed extensively. 
 
 Mr Navalny came to public attention when he inspired mass protests against the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin in December 2011. 
 
 Alexei Navalny's rise to prominence 2008: Started blogging about allegations of corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled firms 
 
 Started blogging about allegations of corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled firms Nov 2011: Ahead of parliamentary poll, he criticised President Putin's United Russia, famously dubbing it the "party of crooks and thieves" 
 
 Ahead of parliamentary poll, he criticised President Putin's United Russia, famously dubbing it the "party of crooks and thieves" Dec 2011: After the poll, he inspired mass protests against the Kremlin, and was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days 
 
 After the poll, he inspired mass protests against the Kremlin, and was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days Oct 2012: Won most votes in a poll to choose opposition leadership 
 
 Won most votes in a poll to choose opposition leadership April 2013: Went on trial 
 
 Went on trial July 2013: Declared himself a candidate for Moscow mayoral election 
 
 Declared himself a candidate for Moscow mayoral election July 2013: Found guilty of theft and embezzlement Profile: Alexei Navalny A thorn in Putin's side 
 
 Judge Blinov said he found the testimony of the main prosecution witness, Vyacheslav Opalev, to be "trustworthy and consistent''. 
 
 Navalny insists that Mr Opalev spoke against him out of revenge, because Navalny had recommended he be fired and his company investigated for corruption. 
 
 After the verdict, Navalny tweeted: "So that's it. Don't get bored without me. Most importantly, don't sit around doing nothing. The toad won't get off the oil pipe by itself." 
 
 In his LiveJournal blog on Wednesday Navalny said: "The current authorities are not a big, healthy fish, but rather a bloated fish or Latin American toad, which puffs itself up when it sees danger, with the help of television." 
 
 In an unusual step, the court allowed the whole trial to be broadcast live online. 
 
 He is now one of the key figures of the opposition - a thorn in the side of the political establishment, campaigning against the endemic corruption, our correspondent says. 
 
 Mr Navalny has also coined a phrase to describe the ruling party United Russia that has stuck in everyone's minds - "the party of crooks and thieves".
– A leader of Russia's protest movement has been found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison for financial theft from a state-run timber firm. Alexsei Navalny is known for using the Internet to attack corruption and the "swindlers and thieves" of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, the New York Times notes. The court said Navalny, while working as a governor's aide, led a group that embezzled some $500,000 from the company, the BBC reports. Tweeting in court, Navalny said prosecutors' evidence was faked, and an earlier probe found no grounds for his charges. Indeed, Russian investigators suggested Navalny's outspokenness was his downfall. "If a person tries with all his strength to attract attention ... then interest in his past grows and the process of exposing him naturally speeds up," said a spokesman for investigators. Navalny, who had recently announced he was running for Moscow mayor, is now poised to be disqualified, the Times notes. He and his wife spent much of the trial on Twitter, even after a judge told everyone to shut off their phones. "Don’t miss me. And most importantly—do not be lazy," Navalny told supporters. "The toad (of the government) will not remove itself from the oil pipeline." Click for more from the court.