The man who attacked a Navalny organizer with a metal pipe gets off with community service

A court in Moscow has sentenced the man who beat Nikolai Lyaskin over the head with a metal pipe to 11 months of community service. In September 2017, Alexey Shcherbakov attacked Lyaskin, who was then serving as Alexey Navalny’s campaign chief in Moscow.

Police first classified it as an act of hooliganism, but later downgraded the charges to battery. Lyaskin wants Shcherbakov convicted on felony charges and says he plans to challenge Friday’s ruling. In court, Shcherbakov claimed that Lyaskin paid him to stage the attack as a publicity stunt. Lyaskin sustained a concussion in the beating.