A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to nine years in a maximum-security prison on fraud charges, in a ruling that will keep President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent out of active politics for years ahead. Navalny, who was also found guilty of contempt of court, was already serving a 2.5 year sentence at a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he said were trumped up to thwart his political ambitions. Navalny, who was also fined 1.2 million roubles (US$11,535), dismissed the latest criminal case against him as politically motivated and pleaded not guilty. It was not immediately clear whether Navalny was expected to serve the sentence concurrently with his current one or on top of it, and which maximum security facility he would be transferred to and when. His lawyers were detained by police outside the prison following the verdict, according to an AFP reporter on the scene. Navalny used his appearances during the trial to denounce Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has plunged Russia into economic crisis and international isolation. His new conviction comes amid a harsh crackdown on dissent since the start of the war a month ago, with Putin labelling those opposed to the invasion as “traitors”. This week Russia banned Facebook and Instagram as “extremist” and the authorities have blocked or shut down independent media to control access to information. “It’s the duty of every person now to oppose this war,” Navalny, 45, told the court in his final statement. The invasion of Ukraine will result in “our country’s collapse and disintegration”, he said. In a tweet responding to the sentencing, he quoted the popular HBO television show “The Wire”. “9 years. Well, as the characters of my favourite TV series ‘The Wire’ used to say: ‘You only do two days. That’s the day you go in and the day you come out’”. He said he even had a T-shirt with the slogan “but the prison authorities confiscated it, considering the print extremist”. Navalny , who was set to be released next year, could now be transferred to a more remote penal colony that will make it harder for him to maintain contact with supporters, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter on Monday. The judge found Navalny guilty of fraud, and he also faced charges of contempt of court, his aide Ivan Zhdanov said. Judge Margarita Kotova of Moscow’s Lefortovo court said Navalny had obtained the assets of strangers by “deception and abuse of trust”. And “by insulting the judge, Navalny committed contempt of court”, she said, according to an Agence France-Presse journalist present at the trial. The prosecution had asked for 13 years in prison. Navalny stood trial remotely from his prison about 100km (60 miles) from Moscow due to what the authorities said were Covid-19 restrictions, but had until now been able to post on social media via his lawyers. Navalny’s supporters and human rights defenders have accused Putin of doing everything to keep him silent. Amnesty International denounced the case as a “sham trial”. Navalny has been in detention since January 2021, when he returned to Russia after recovering abroad from a near-fatal attack involving a nerve-agent that he and Western governments blamed on Putin’s secret services. The Kremlin denies any involvement in the assassination attempt in Siberia. Putin has been in power since 2000, the longest rule since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, and is increasingly intolerant of dissent. Russian authorities have accused Navalny of acting as a Western agent and banned his organisations as extremist after his detention, prompting most of his key aides to flee the country to avoid arrest. Additional reporting by Business Insider