kremlin critic navalny gets 15 days in jail after protest
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Kremlin critic Navalny gets 15 days in jail after protest

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today Kremlin critic Navalny gets 15 days in jail after protest

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends a hearing after being detained at the protest
MOSCOW - Arab today

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 15 days behind bars and fined Monday after staging the biggest anti-corruption protests in years, an act branded a “provocation” by the Kremlin.

The United States and the European Union have voiced deep concern after Navalny and more than 1,000 others were detained in the Moscow protest on Sunday, with the State Department describing the arrests as an “affront to democracy”.

A Moscow district court ordered Navalny to serve 15 days in jail after having found him guilty of disobeying police orders. He was fined 20,000 roubles (Dh1,286; $350) for having organised an unsanctioned protest.

The lawyer turned activist, 40, who has announced plans to run for president next year, called Sunday’s protests after publishing a report accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of controlling a property empire through a shadowy network of non-profit organisations.

“The authorities are being accused of multi-million theft, but they remain silent,” a haggard-looking Navalny said in court, insisting the protests were legal.

“More than 1,000 people were arrested yesterday but it is impossible to arrest millions,” the 40-year-old lawyer said.

About 7,000 to 8,000 people demonstrated in Moscow on Sunday, according to police figures, making it one of the biggest unauthorised rallies in President Vladimir Putin’s 17 years in power.

The Kremlin called the protest “a provocation and a lie”, and claimed minors had been promised “financial rewards” to participate.

Demonstrations were held not just in Moscow and Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg but also in a number of provincial cities where protests are rarely seen.

They attracted a significant number of minors born since Putin came to power.

“I am very happy that a generation that wants to be citizens, that isn’t afraid, was born in the country,” Navalny said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russians’ “civic stance” would be respected if expressed legally but, without mentioning Navalny by name, suggested “some people will continue using (politically) active people ... to their own ends, calling them to illegal and unauthorised actions”.

Navalny was arrested as he was walking to the Moscow protest and another 1,030 people were detained, according OVD-Info, a website that monitors detentions of activists.

The vast majority were fined and released overnight, while about 120 remained in custody on Monday, OVD-Info said.

One policeman was hospitalised after suffering a head injury, the interior ministry said.

The European Union urged Russia to release the demonstrators “without delay” and expressed concern that police action had “prevented the exercise of basic freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly”.

“We call on the Russian authorities to abide fully by the international commitments it has made, including in the Council of Europe ... to uphold these rights and to release without delay the peaceful demonstrators that have been detained.”

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the detention of “peaceful protesters, human rights observers, and journalists is an affront to core democratic values”.

The protests drew comparisons with mass anti-government rallies that swept Russia in 2011 over vote-rigging after a parliamentary election, which snowballed into the biggest challenge against Putin since he took power in 2000.

Navalny said Sunday that he was “proud” of the demonstrators.

“You are the country’s best people and Russia’s hope for a normal future,” he wrote on Twitter.

Despite the scale of the protests, Russian state television news did not cover them, broadcasting soap operas and nature films instead.

Pro-Kremlin television host Vladimir Solovyov accused Navalny on-air Sunday of being a “paid provocateur” seeking to “destroy” the country.

The Russian constitution allows public gatherings when authorised by city authorities, but that privilege is rarely accorded to Kremlin critics.

Navalny won a surprise 27 per cent of the vote in the Moscow mayoral election in 2013, and afterwards announced plans to seek the presidency.

But he has been the subject of several legal prosecutions, and in February was found guilty of embezzlement in a case he called politically motivated. He was given a five-year suspended sentence which could make him ineligible to run in next year’s vote.

Navalny and his team, though ignored by official media, have taken their anti-corruption campaign online, using social media to expose the hidden fortunes of high-ranking officials

source : gulfnews

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

kremlin critic navalny gets 15 days in jail after protest kremlin critic navalny gets 15 days in jail after protest



GMT 09:51 2016 Tuesday ,29 March

Back to drawing board for new father Murray

GMT 09:17 2017 Monday ,13 February

RAK police seek help to locate missing girl

GMT 21:52 2011 Monday ,08 August

Leverkusen\'s Giefer hospitalised

GMT 23:05 2017 Wednesday ,25 January

Millions travel for China’s Lunar New Year festival

GMT 23:06 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

Pakistan military tests nuclear-capable missile

GMT 11:34 2017 Tuesday ,14 February

Artist makes NY fashion week debut on a bus

GMT 14:35 2018 Monday ,22 January

Azza Fahmy Jewellery announces UK store launch

GMT 07:41 2014 Wednesday ,19 March

Nail brand The Lacquer Lab launches

GMT 15:19 2011 Tuesday ,02 August

Orwellian Barton forced to train alone by Newcastle

GMT 12:25 2016 Wednesday ,14 December

Evaluation of Participating Companies Goes in Full Swing

GMT 13:37 2017 Monday ,25 December

Abducted Yemenis kept in chains in Houthi jails

GMT 20:05 2011 Wednesday ,20 July

Maid repatriated after 3-year ordeal

GMT 01:09 2012 Wednesday ,15 February

Elegant Patch Sofa

GMT 09:45 2016 Friday ,25 November

In French missionary retirement home

GMT 06:06 2011 Monday ,12 December

Homemade Pet treats maker

GMT 04:41 2017 Monday ,09 January

Emirates Youth Council holds first meeting of 2017

GMT 08:09 2014 Thursday ,05 June

Opel outlines growth plan until 2022

GMT 11:27 2017 Thursday ,21 December

Dollar exchange stable at Egypt's major banks

GMT 08:48 2017 Sunday ,29 October

Spain seizes control of 'independent' Catalonia

GMT 17:27 2017 Monday ,13 November

EU's Mogherini urges 'no external interference'

GMT 07:29 2017 Tuesday ,19 December

Helmy el-Namnam hails Sharjah Ruler's support

GMT 13:49 2017 Wednesday ,29 November

ARIES (March21st-April20th)
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday