MOSCOW (AP) — Boris Nadezhdin, who criticized Moscow’s military action in Ukraine and tried to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the 2024 election, was convicted Friday of displaying “extremist symbols” — an action that will keep him out of this year’s parliamentary race.The charges against Nadezhdin, 63, were based on a 2023 online interview in which he briefly showed a picture of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who at that time was serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism that were widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny later died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024.Nadezhdin rejected the case against him as absurd and argued authorities were trying to keep him from campaigning in September’s parliamentary vote. The court in Dolgoprudny, a town on Moscow’s northern outskirts where he lives, convicted him and ordered him to pay a fine of 1,000 rubles (about $13).A week ago, Russia’s Justice Ministry named Nadezhdin as a “foreign agent,” a designation that carries strong pejorative connotations and brings additional government scrutiny. It also bars him from holding public office, but he was still able to wage his symbolic campaign for a parliament seat until Friday’s verdict.