MOSCOW, July 19 (RAPSI) - The scale of criminal penalties is to be put in order, Pavel Krasheninnikov, chair of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitral and Procedural Legislation, said on Friday.

Thus he gave a comment on the verdict in the case of opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigning blogger Alexei Navalny .

Suspended sentence is often given in more serious embezzlement cases, he said. Furthermore, it is necessary to take up each case separately, he admitted.

Navalny was found guilty of timber embezzlement Thursday stemming from a stint spent serving as an advisor to Kirov governor Nikita Belykh between May and September 2009. According to investigators, Navalny organized the theft of over 10,000 cubic meters of timber during that period in collusion with Vyatka Timber Company Director Pyotr Ofitserov and Kirovles CEO Vyacheslav Opalyov.

He was sentenced to five years in a penal colony, and his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov received a four-year sentence. The two were held liable to pay a one million ruble fine between them.

The following day, Navalny and Ofitserov were released on bail pending their appeal. The request for their release was filed by prosecutors based on the fact of Navalny's candidacy for Moscow mayor, and the concern that he should be afforded the same rights as other candidates.

Defense attorneys for Navalny and Ofitserov plan to appeal the decision of the court.

Moreover, detention must be used by courts less often than travel restrictions, Krasheninnikov said.