MOSCOW – The Moscow City Court has refused to lift the house arrest of anti-corruption campaigner and leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Navalny was convicted in late December of fraud and given a 3 1/2 -year suspended sentence, but was ordered to remain under house arrest until his appeals were exhausted.
Navalny claimed this was illegal and cut off his monitoring bracelet three weeks ago. He has been allowed to leave his home, but has been followed by law enforcement officers posted outside his apartment building.
His appeal of his house arrest was rejected Tuesday by the City Court.
Navalny responded by posting a call on Twitter for an anti-crisis march on March 1.
The Russian economy has been hit by low oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine.
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