In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial. In October 2021, while still in prison, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. He is recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. While in prison, Navalny and human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of subjecting him to torture. A resolution by the ECHR called for his release.
In February, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and half years' detention. Following his arrest and the release of the documentary Putin's Palace, which accused Putin of corruption, mass protests were held across Russia. In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole conditions while he was in Germany which were imposed as a result of his 2014 conviction. The EU, UK and US responded by imposing sanctions on senior Russian officials. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB). He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. In August 2020 Navalny was hospitalised in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. In 2018, Navalny initiated Smart Voting, a tactical voting strategy intended to consolidate the votes of those who oppose United Russia, to the party of seats in elections. In December 2016, Navalny launched his presidential campaign for the 2018 presidential election but was barred by Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) after registering due to his prior criminal conviction the Russian Supreme Court subsequently rejected his appeal. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) later ruled that the cases violated Navalny's right to a fair trial, but his sentences were never overturned. Both of his criminal cases were widely considered to be politically motivated and intended to bar him from running in future elections. In December 2014, Navalny received another suspended sentence for embezzlement. Despite this, he was allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election and came in second, with 27% of the vote, outperforming expectations but losing to incumbent mayor Sergey Sobyanin, a Putin appointee. In July 2013 Navalny received a suspended sentence for embezzlement. In March 2017, Navalny and the FBK released the documentary He Is Not Dimon to You, accusing Dmitry Medvedev, the then prime minister and former president of Russia, of corruption, leading to mass protests across the country. Navalny and the FBK have published investigations detailing alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian officials. In a 2011 radio interview, he described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a " party of crooks and thieves," which became a popular epithet. Through his social media channels, he publishes material about corruption in Russia, organises political demonstrations and promotes his campaigns. In 2021 Navalny had more than six million YouTube subscribers.
He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He has organised anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name. Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, IPA: born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist.