MOSCOW, February 6 (RAPSI) - Opposition activist Alexei Navalny has paid a 500,000 ruble ($14,302) fine imposed on him in the “Kirovles” embezzlement case, Russia's Federal Bailiff Service reported Thursday.

In October, Navalny on appeal received a suspended sentence based on his conviction on charges of timber embezzlement last July stemming from a stint spent serving as an advisor to Kirov governor Nikita Belykh between May and September 2009.

Investigators had alleged that Navalny organized the theft of over 10,000 cubic meters of timber during that period in collusion with Vyatka Timber Company Director Pyotr Ofitserov and Kirovles CEO Vyacheslav Opalyov.

He was initially sentenced to five years in a penal colony, and his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov received a four-year sentence. The two were held liable to pay a one million ruble fine between them.