MOSCOW, July 18 (RAPSI) – The Leninsky District Court in Kirov handed down a guilty verdict Thursday for opposition activist and Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny on embezzlement charges.

Please find the full text coverage of the sentencing hearing here.

The court, in the city of Kirov, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of Moscow, found Navalny guilty of organizing the embezzlement of 16 million rubles ($514,140) worth of timber from state-owned company Kirovles.

According to investigators, while serving on a voluntary basis as an adviser to the Kirov region governor, Navalny organized the theft of over 10,000 cubic meters of timber. It was allegedly stolen from Kirovles company between May and September 2009 in collusion with Vyatka Timber Company Director Pyotr Ofitserov and Kirovles CEO Vyacheslav Opalyov.

Ofitserov, a long-time acquaintance of Navalny’s, was also found guilty.

Opalyov, who has entered into an agreement with the prosecution, received a four-year suspended sentence.

Prosecutors earlier this month requested that Navaly get six years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles ($30,000). For Ofitserov, prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison sentence and a 1 million-ruble fine.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Navalny’s supporters have pledged to hold a demonstration in downtown Moscow on Thursday evening.