US campaigner Bill Browder on Navalny's arrest

A human rights campaigner on Monday warned of "hard consequences" for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the global stage following the detention of opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

US-born Britain-based financier and activist Bill Browder said, "Putin is in an impossible situation because the entire world is condemning what he has done."

Navalny was jailed for 30 days, after he returned to Russia from Germany where he was recovering from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on Putin's government.

Speaking to  British broadcaster Sky News, Browder said that the leading Kremlin critic had "elevated himself to the likes of Nelson Mandela, by going back there yesterday."

He added that the Kremlin is "terrified" of a Belarus-style uprising and that in pursuing the persecution of Navalny, "Putin has guaranteed him now legitimacy and relevance."

Amnesty International, which called Navalny a prisoner of conscience, denounced Moscow's court hearing as a “mockery of justice.”

Calls for Navalny’s immediate release have come from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and top officials of other EU nations.

Browder, once a major foreign investor in Russia, ran afoul of the government in the late 2000s while investigating an alleged large-scale tax fraud scheme.

Authorities seized Browder's company, Hermitage Capital, and denied him entry to Russia.

Browder has since campaigned globally for sanctions against Russian human rights violators.

(Image Credit: AP)