Speed Reads
On Friday, a judge in Moscow sentenced Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and leading critic of President Vladimir Putin, to two months of house arrest for violating a travel ban when he left city limits to attend a protest rally. That's not such a big deal — Navalny is already serving a five-year suspended sentence for what are widely viewed as trumped-up embezzlement charges. But the judge also ordered Navalny to keep off the internet and phone, effectively silencing the country's leading opposition figure.
"Their only goal is to stop my political activities," Navalny told the courtroom. Navalny was recently introduced to a new audience of Americans through his appearance on The Daily Show.