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RUSSIA: Opposition leader, Navalny jailed for 15 days for partaking in protest march

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RUSSIA: Opposition leader, Navalny jailed for 15 days for partaking in protest march

A court in Moscow yesterday ordered the detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny for defying orders not to partake at a major opposition protest that he had organised.

Navalny will now spend 15-days behind bars for resisting police orders on Sunday when he walked to the protest against government corruption in the Russian capital of Moscow.

The opposition leader was grabbed by police while walking to the rally from a nearby subway station. He posted a selfie on Twitter from the courtroom on Monday morning, saying: “A time will come when we’ll put them on trial too – and that time it will be fair.”

“Even the slightest illusion of fair justice is absent here,” Navalny said on Monday at the defendant’s bench, complaining about the judge striking down one motion after another.

Read also: Russian opposition leader paraded in court a day after arrest

“Yesterday’s events have shown that quite a large number of voters in Russia support the program of a candidate who stands for fighting corruption. These people demand political representation – and I strive to be their political representative.”

Thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of Moscow to join protests organised by Navalny, a Kremlin critic and anti-corruption campaigner, who urged people to take to the streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Navalny called for protests two days ago after publishing a detailed report this month accusing Medvedev of controlling a property empire through a shadowy network of non-profit organisations.

The 40-year-old Navalny who is Russia’s most popular opposition leader, has been twice convicted on fraud and embezzlement charges that he has since dismissed as politically motivated.

 

 

 

 

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