KIROV, Russia (AP) — Alexei Navalny, one of the Russian opposition’s leading figures, was convicted of embezzlement today and sentenced to five years in prison.

Navalny and his supporters claimed the case was politically driven to try to shut down the vehement Kremlin critic and intimidate his supporters.

Navalny was found guilty of heading a group that embezzled 16 million rubles’ ($500,000) worth of timber from state-owned company Kirovles in 2009 while he worked as an unpaid adviser to the provincial governor in Kirov, about 470 miles east of Moscow.

The 37-year-old lawyer played with his smartphone for much of the nearly 3 1/2- hour verdict reading. A post on his Twitter account after the sentence was pronounced said, “Oh, well. Don’t get bored without me. And, importantly, don’t be idle …”

Navalny handed the phone and his watch to his wife, Yulia, before bailiffs took custody of him and co-defendant Pyotr Ofitserov, who was given a four-year sentence.

The case raised criticism of Russia for efforts to stifle opposition.

“We are deeply disappointed in the conviction of Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitservov and the apparent political motivations in this trial,” U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul said on Facebook.

Navalny, who was a fellow at Yale University in 2010, first came to wide attention for vigorous blogging about corruption. He was a top leader of the wave of massive protest rallies that broke out in late 2011 after a national parliamentary election scarred by allegations of widespread fraud.

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