Navalny ally Sobol says Russian court has sentenced her to community service

Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition figure and a close ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, speaks with journalists upon her arrival at a court building in Moscow, Russia April 15, 2021. Russian state investigators accuse Sobol of violently entering a flat reportedly owned by the family of a man, who Navalny and his supporters had said was an FSB security service officer involved in his poisoning. A message on Sobol's T-shirt reads: "Where is a criminal case into the poisoning of Navalny?" REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

Lyubov Sobol, a close ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, wrote on Twitter on Thursday that she had been sentenced in court to a year of community service for using violence to trespass on private property.

Sobol's trial comes amid a crackdown on Navalny's allies and supporters, who staged several rallies to protest over his jailing earlier this year. The case relates to an incident in December.

Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition figure and a close ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, speaks with journalists upon her arrival at a court building in Moscow, Russia April 15, 2021. Russian state investigators accuse Sobol of violently entering a flat reportedly owned by the family of a man, who Navalny and his supporters had said was an FSB security service officer involved in his poisoning. A message on Sobol's T-shirt reads: "Where is a criminal case into the poisoning of Navalny?" REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

(Reporting by Anton Zverev; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Hugh Lawson)