Russian opposition leader jailed in Bolotnaya Square protest case
Source: The Guardian
A Russian opposition leader has been found guilty of organising mass rioting at a protest on the eve of Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin in 2012 in a trial which human rights experts describe as politically motivated.
Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the socialist Left Front and a major voice in the wave of street protests that shook Russia in 2011-13, was convicted of planning the unrest at the protest, along with Leonid Razvozzhayev, an activist and aide to opposition MP Ilya Ponomaryov, the only deputy to vote against Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev were each sentenced to four-and-a-half years in a prison colony, while the latter was additionally fined 150,000 rubles for illegally crossing the border. Prosecutors had sought a maximum tariff of eight years. The defence plans to appeal.
...
Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch called Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev's trial and the rest of the Bolotnaya case a "mockery of justice", noting that an international panel of experts on free assembly, including members of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, had found there were minor clashes with police but not the major riots the prosecution claims.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/russian-opposition-leader-jailed-bolotnaya-square-sergei-udaltsov-putin
= new reply since forum marked as read
The KGB is watching you...
