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Aleksei Navalny was detained on his way to a rally in Moscow.
Aleksei Navalny was detained on his way to a rally in Moscow.

Live Updates: Aleksei Navalny Detained

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-- Kremlin opponent Aleksei Navalny has been detained by police while trying to reach an unsanctioned rally in Moscow against his December 30 conviction in a fraud case. He was trying to reach the protest near the Kremlin despite being under house arrest.

-- Russian riot police have deployed in Moscow's Manezh Square, near the Kremlin, where thousands of demonstrators at an unsanctioned rally are protesting a court ruling against Navalny.

-- A Russian court found Navalny and his brother Oleg guilty. Oleg will get 3 1/2 years in a prison colony while Aleksei has been given a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence.

-- Speaking after the verdict, Navalny called on Russians to take to the streets. He said the state had taken to "torture" of family members. Other activists have compared the sentence of his brother to "hostage-taking."

-- Prosecutors claimed Navalny and his brother stole about 31 million rubles ($520,000) from the Russian affiliate of Yves Rocher, a French cosmetics firm. They were both also fined 500,000 rubles ($8,500) each and ordered to pay 4.4 million rubles ($70,000) in compensation to one of the companies they were charged with defrauding.

-- The verdict was originally scheduled for January 15, but in a surprise move authorities moved the date to December 30. Some suspect the change of timing is to distract from a protest being organized on January 15. The official holiday season begins on January 1 in Russia.

NOTE: Times according to Moscow time.

07:51 30.12.2014

07:47 30.12.2014

Kremlin press-secretary Peskov says there will be no comment about today's verdict.

07:46 30.12.2014

Navalnys' lawyers argue that under the rules for economic crimes Oleg cannot legally be jailed until an appeal is filed.

07:27 30.12.2014

07:16 30.12.2014

Translation from Navalny account:

"Of all possible sentences today's was the most vile."

07:11 30.12.2014

06:59 30.12.2014

Former Navalny campaign manager implores people to come out tonight. Over 16,000 people have said on Facebook that they will protest in downtown Moscow tonight, but it is still unclear how many will actually show up.

"There are exactly nine hours to tell everyone about this [the demonstration]: Friends, colleagues, relatives."

06:54 30.12.2014

Translated tweet from opposition municipal deputy, who is echoing thoughts of many:

"This is clearly an experiment. They want to see how many will turn out [to protest] for the little-known Oleg. To clear the board, even more should come out."

06:46 30.12.2014

Brothers parting. Aleksei will head back to house arrest and Oleg will head to prison. Many on social media say his Aleksei's brother -- largely apolitical -- has just become a hostage of the Kremlin.

06:36 30.12.2014

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