Russian opposition leader jailed for 15 days over protest

A court on Monday sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 15 days in prison, saying he had disobeyed a police officer during an anti-government protest in Moscow the previous day.

The same court fined Navalny 20,000 roubles (€321.82) earlier on Monday for his role in organising the protest, which the authorities said was illegal.

Police detained hundreds of protesters across Russia on Sunday, including Mr Navalny, after thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against corruption and demand the resignation of prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Sunday's protest and others like it across Russia were estimated to be the largest since 2012 and foreshadow a presidential election which Vladimir Putin is expected to contest.

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Opinion polls suggest Mr Navalny, who hopes to run against Mr Putin, has little chance of unseating the Russian leader, who enjoys high ratings. But Mr Navalny and his supporters hope to channel public discontent over corruption to get more support.

Olga Mikhailova, Mr Navalny's lawyer, told Reuters she had expected such a verdict and would appeal it.

A Reuters reporter saw Mr Navalny being loaded into a van, which was quickly surrounded by supporters holding placards reading” “We believe” and “Alexei, we are with you.”

The Kremlin on Monday rejected calls by the US and the European Union to release detained opposition protesters, accusing organisers of paying teenagers to attend.

Mr Navalny told reporters in the Moscow courtroom that he and his allies would not give up. “You can’t detain tens of thousands of people,” he said. “Yesterday we saw the authorities can only go so far.”

Reuters