An appeals court in Russia has upheld the extremism conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, rejecting defense arguments appealing the sentence. This means that Navalny will be sent to a prison colony with even more difficult conditions, world agencies reported. Today he lost his appeal against the new 19-year prison sentence, extending his total sentence to more than 30 years.

- The court reviewed the appeal of the defense of Alexei Navalny and Daniel Kholodny and decided to leave the first instance decision unchanged, according to the court's decision, quoted by the Russian media. The time Navalny has already spent in detention will count as one day for one day.

With the second degree verdict, he will soon be transferred to a colony with a special regime. For now, he is in a colony with a strict regime in the village of Melehovo, Vladimir region.

In August this year, a Moscow court found the opposition leader guilty of financing extremism, creating an extremist community and calling for extremism online.

Taking into account the previous verdicts and with a partial summary of the sentences, he was sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a colony with a special regime. He was also fined 500 thousand rubles and banned from using the Internet for 10 years after his release.

The second defendant, Daniel Holodny, was found guilty of financing extremist activity using his official position and participation in an extremist community. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison.