Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Alexei Navalny told the BBC's Hardtalk programme in January that he would fight on

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been formally barred from standing in next year's presidential election.

The Central Electoral Commission has ruled he may not stand because he was found guilty of embezzlement and given a suspended sentence.

Mr Navalny has said the case against him was politically motivated.

The anti-corruption campaigner led mass street protests against Vladimir Putin in the winter of 2011-12.

Mr Putin is eligible to stand again for president next year - it would be his fourth term in office - though he has not yet announced his decision.

Mr Navalny was sentenced this month to 30 days' administrative arrest for repeatedly violating Russia's law on staging rallies.

He had called on people across Russia to protest against corruption on the 12 June Russia Day public holiday. Hundreds of people were detained the same day.

In a post on his website (in Russian) on Friday, he said that protests had taken place that day in 145 towns across Russia, with turnout twice that on a similar day of action on 26 March.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Navalny was arrested again for protests in Moscow this month

In February, Mr Navalny was convicted of embezzlement at a retrial after an earlier conviction was deemed to be unfair by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Rejecting the verdict, he vowed to make a new appeal to the ECHR, and argued that, under the constitution, only people actually in prison could not stand for election.

However, in its statement (in Russian) on Friday, the Central Electoral Commission ruled that he did not have the right to run for office because of his conviction.

The focus of the anti-corruption protests this year has been Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, accused by activists in a YouTube video of secretly amassing a huge fortune under President Putin. He has dismissed the claim as "nonsense".

Mr Putin has been in office as either president or prime minister since 1999.</s>Russia: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny can not run for presidency because of his criminal conviction, the Central Election Commission, said in a statement on Friday.

"Navalny does not have passive suffrage," said the statement, meaning he was ineligible to run for office.

Navalny was found guilty of embezzlement in February and given a five-year suspended prison sentence in a court case he says was organised to stop him running for president.</s>Election body says Alexei Navalny ineligible to run in 2018 presidential vote due to suspended five-year jail sentence.

Russia's electoral body has announced that Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader, is barred from challenging President Vladimir Putin in next year's elections.

In a statement released on Friday, the Central Electoral Commission said Navalny is "not eligible to stand for office" because he is currently serving a five-year suspended sentence for embezzlement.

The body said people convicted of such crimes cannot stand for public office until 10 years after their sentence ends.

Speaking to AFP news agency, Nikolai Lyaskin, Navalny's campaign manager, said the decision was unconstitutional.

"According to the constitution, any citizen who is not in prison is eligible to stand for public office," he said.

Navalny ran in the 2013 Moscow local elections, coming second against a Kremlin-backed incumbent with a Western-style campaign and a message of snuffing out corruption.

Navalny was allowed to compete in that race as he was appealing his first 2013 conviction.

The European Court of Human Rights last year quashed the verdict, saying Navalny and his former business partner did not have a fair trial.

Navalny and his supporters condemned the trial as politically motivated.

The Russian court held a retrial this year, issuing the same sentence. A regional court later upheld the sentence.

Putin is expected to stand for a fourth Kremlin term in the March 2018 election, but has yet to confirm this.

The nomination of candidates will begin this December.

The opposition is already opening campaign offices across the country to register supporters for its presidential bid.

A presidential candidate is required to obtain 300,000 signatures of support in the space of 40 days later this year in order to enter the race.

Navalny's campaign has been marked with controversy. In one incident, an attacker threw green dye at his face, causing eye damage.

The campaign's rented office in Moscow also had its electricity switched off just days after its launch.

He is currently serving a 30-day sentence in police cells as the organiser of an unauthorised protest after he called anti-corruption demonstrations on June 12 that saw more than 1,700 people detained nationwide.</s>Russian election officials have barred opposition leader Aleksei Navalny from participating in the March 2018 presidential election, citing a criminal conviction that Navalny has said was politically motivated to block him from running.

In a statement issued on June 23, the Central Election Commission said that "Navalny does not have passive suffrage," making him ineligible to run for public office.

In 2013, Navalny was given a five-year suspended sentence on a large-scale embezzlement charge in a case he says was engineered by the Kremlin to prevent him from challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin for the presidency.

The Supreme Court threw out the initial conviction last year, but Navalny was convicted again in a retrial and lost an appeal against that verdict last month.

On June 14, Russia's top election commission chief Ella Pamfilova said Navalny was almost certain to be barred from the presidential election, citing the criminal conviction.

In an interview on Russian channel Dozhd TV, Pamfilova said Navalny "has no chance of being registered for the election due to his conviction."

She said it was possible "a miracle might happen and [Navalny] might file an appeal," but she said he has "practically no chance of being registered."

The Central Election Commission's ruling appears unlikely to stop Navalny from campaigning ahead of the vote, in which Putin is widely expected to seek and secure a fourth term in office.

Navalny is an anticorruption crusader and political opponent of Putin who has organized nationwide street protests twice since March. He has been campaigning for the presidency despite statements by officials who have said his conviction on the financial-crimes charge means he cannot seek office.</s>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been barred from running for presidency in Russia’s 2018 election because he is currently serving a suspended sentence.

 Russia’s Central Election Commission made the announcement in a statement published on Friday, saying that Navalny was not eligible to stand for office because of currently serving a five-year suspended sentence for embezzlement.

 “According to available information, on February 8, 2017, Navalny A. was sentenced under… the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to five years of imprisonment with a fine of 500,000 rubles [$8,400], the sentence was suspended with a probation period of 1 year 5 months. Thus, at the moment A. Navalny does not have the right to be elected,” the statement said.

 The electoral body said that embezzlement charges fell into the category of a serious crime and individuals convicted of such crimes could not stand for public office until 10 years after their sentence ended.

 Rejecting the ruling, Nikolai Lyaskin, Navalny’s campaign manager, claimed, “According to the constitution, any citizen who is not in prison is eligible to stand for public office.—Agencies</s>MOSCOW(Sputnik) — Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is not currently entitled to run in elections due to his conviction, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said in a statement Friday.

"According to available information, on February 8, 2017, Navalny A. was sentenced under part 3 of Article 33, part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to five years of imprisonment with a fine of 500,000 rubles, the sentence was suspended with a probation period of 1 year 5 months (the sentence entered into force). Thus, at the moment A. Navalny does not have the right to be elected," the statement said.</s>A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 30 days in prison for repeatedly violating the law on organising public meetings, a Reuters journalist reported.

Navalny was earlier detained on his way to an anti-Kremlin protest in central Moscow.</s>Navalny, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, has said he wants to run for the presidency in March 2018. Putin, who has dominated Russia's political landscape for 17 years, is widely expected to run for what would be his fourth term, but has yet to confirm he will do so.

Navalny has become the most prominent opposition challenger after organising some of the biggest anti-Kremlin protests in years, seeking to leverage public anger over what he says is grotesque official corruption to boost his popularity.

But he suffered a setback in February when a court handed him a suspended five-year jail term for embezzlement in a case he said was trumped up to frustrate his presidential bid.

Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, told TV Rain late on Wednesday that the conviction meant a presidential run by Navalny was out of the question.

"I am afraid to be discourteous," said Pamfilova. "But I understand - and he understands himself - that he has no chance of being registered for the election due to his previous conviction."

Her comments, made days after Navalny organised another big anti-Kremlin protest, follow those of another senior election official who last month said Navalny would have to overturn his embezzlement conviction to be able to run. [nL8N1I56FR]

Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally, said he thought the authorities were bluffing.

"The more they say this, the greater my certainty that there will be no other option but for them to register him," Volkov said on social media.

For now, opinion polls show Navalny would be defeated by Putin, 64, by a wide margin if he did run. But Navalny, a 41-year-old lawyer, has embarked upon a campaign he hopes will improve his chances by harnessing the Internet and by making frequent visits to the provinces where he is less known.

He is currently serving out a 30-day jail sentence after a judge found him guilty of repeatedly violating the law on organising public meetings following big June 12 protests.</s>Police detained Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the entrance of his home on Monday, just before an unsanctioned rally he was going to hold in central Moscow, but the protest will still go ahead, his wife said on Twitter.

Electricity in Navalny's office was switched off, his spokeswoman said in a separate Twitter message. A live Internet feed run from Navalny's office went off air.</s>A Moscow court has sentenced an ally of the Russian opposition leader to five days in jail for organizing a webcast of massive anti-government protests earlier this month.

The court on Thursday found Leonid Volkov guilty of violating the law on demonstrations and agreed with the prosecution’s argument that Volkov “organized” the protests by holding a webcast. Volkov is the campaign manager of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most popular opposition leader who wants to run for president next year.

Tens of thousands took to the streets in some of the most widespread anti-government protests earlier this month. They were called for by Navalny, who himself was sentenced to jail for 25 days for staging the rallies. Another ally of Navalny’s was sent to jail for 10 days and released earlier on Thursday.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is formally barred by the Central Election Commission from his running in next year's presidential election.