BREAKING: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny sentenced to three and a half years

However, Navalny has already served ten months under house arrest, so he will only be serving two years and eight months of the sentence in the penal colony.

Navalny was tried and sentenced in 2014 on charges of embezzlement, which many observers have objected to as being politically motivated.

The opposition figure was poisoned last year and spent five months in a German hospital in recovery. Many, including Navalny himself, have accused the Russian government of being behind the assassination attempt.

Navalny returned to Russia after his recovery in a move which many have described as defiant in the face of Vladimir Putin.

It is unclear where the penal colony in which he will be serving his sentence in is located.