俄罗斯反对派领袖获释

A Russian court released opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Friday, pending the appeal against his five-year sentence on embezzlement charges.

The court ruled that keeping Navalny in custody would deprive him of his right to run in Moscow's mayoral race on September 8.

Navalny was convicted Thursday of embezzling $500,000 worth of timber from a state-owned company, while working as an adviser to a provincial governor in 2009.  He was immediately detained following the verdict.

Thousands of people in several Russian cities demonstrated against the conviction.