A Russian court has found opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg guilty of fraud and sentenced them to three-and-a-half years in prison. But, in a surprise move, the court suspended the sentence against Alexei Navalny but not for his brother, in a twist that supporters say is aimed at going after the anti-corruption campaigner’s family.

A court in Moscow Tuesday morning announced the verdict against Alexei and Oleg Navalny after the court date was abruptly stepped up by two weeks ahead of a planned protest by their supporters.

The judge found the Navalny brothers guilty of embezzling funds from a Russian subsidiary of French cosmetics company Ives Rocher. But, while Alexei, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was given a suspended sentence, his brother Oleg was ordered to serve three-and-a-half years in prison.

Both were ordered to pay 500,000 rubles (nearly $9,000)  in fines. It was not immediately clear why the judge gave a harsher sentence to Oleg than to Alexei, but critics decried it as a blatant attempt to pressure the opposition leader through his family.

“What are you locking him up for?” asked Alexei, referring to his brother. “To punish me even more?” he asked after the verdict was announced.

Speaking later to reporters outside the courthouse, Alexei Navalny leashed out at the Kremlin.

“This government tortures relatives of their opponents. A government that tortures innocent people does not deserve to exist. I call on everyone to go to the square today,” said Navalny apparently referring to Moscow’s Manezh Square, the site of planned protests.

Less than one hundred protesters gathered outside the courthouse and a few were hauled off by police.

Navalny’s supporters are to rally near the Kremlin Tuesday evening in a hastily planned protest after authorities moved up the verdict. Over 33,000 signed up on Facebook to attend a rally on January 15, when the verdict was originally expected. But, authorities appeared to want to head off that protest when on Monday they abruptly informed Navalny’s lawyers that the verdict would be announced Tuesday.

Police late Monday began setting up barricades in Manezh Square, adjacent to the Kremlin and Red Square.

Prosecutor Nadezhda Ignatova said that the Navalny brothers’ guilt has been fully proven.

However, supporters of the brothers and many Russian legal experts point out that not even a minimum of evidence was collected in the case, victims were not named and no damage proven. Representatives of Yves Rocher in Russia have also said that they have no claims against the Navalny brothers.

Yves Rocher did originally file a complaint against the brothers, but later withdrew it. Still, prosecutors continued the case against them in what critics and rights activists view as an abuse of the court system aimed at persecuting political opponents of the Kremlin.

Alexei Navalny was a leader of the largest public protests against the Russian president in 2011 and 2012 that saw tens of thousands take to the streets.

Despite numerous charges against Navalny since then, Russian authorities deny political interference in the judicial system.

Last year he was found guilty of embezzlement in another case and sentenced to prison.  But, Navalny was released the next day after thousands protested in the streets. The anti-corruption campaigner was given a suspended sentence and ran for mayor of Moscow, finishing second.

Navalny is currently under house arrest while he and his brother are appealing their convictions.
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