Moscow Protest Aftermath: Jail Sentences Handed Out to Opposition Leaders

February 25, 2014
Navalny arrested in front of the court house February 2014 during the trial of the Bolotnaya defendants.

Two of the leading figures in the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov, have been sentenced following their arrests while protesting the sentencing of the Bolotnaya defendants yesterday in Manezh Square Moscow.

Navalny, the former mayoral candidate, anti-corruption blogger and leader of the Progress party, has been sentenced to 7 days in jail by Alexei Krivoruchko, a judge who oversaw the Magnitsky case. Navalny has been convicted under article 19.3 of the Russian Administrative Code:

“Failure to follow a lawfull order or demand of a militiaman, a military servicemen or an official of the criminal punishment system in connection with discharge of their official duties related to maintenance of public order and security, as well as impeding the discharge by them of their official duties”

The key question at the moment is whether the conviction will affect Navalny’s probationary five year suspended sentence handed down for embezzlement following what was regarded as a trumped up and politically motivated prosecution over the Kirovles affair.

Nemtsov, the former deputy prime minister of Russia and the co-chair of the People’s Freedom Party was sentenced to 10 days under the same charges. Also sentenced to 10 days were Nikolai Lyaskin, activist and member of Progress, and Nadezhda Mityushkina of Solidarity.