Navalny is a political prisoner,says German NGO

The head of the NGO that helped Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to travel to Germany after being poisoned, described his arrest in Moscow on Sunday as a "political scandal", adding that Navalny is a "political prisoner."

Alexei Navalny was arrested at the passport control of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, as he tried to enter the country from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.

Jaka Bizilj, from NGO "Cinema for Peace" said that the West should uphold its defense of human rights and press for the release of Navalny.

The arrest was widely expected because Russia's prison service said he had violated parole terms from a suspended sentence on a 2014 embezzlement conviction.

The prison service said he would be held in custody until a court rules on his case; no date for a court appearance was immediately announced.

(IMAGE CREDITS:AP)