20:49
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MOSCOW: A Moscow court on Friday sentenced a protester from a May rally against President Vladimir Putin to four-and-a-half years in prison, in a harsh verdict that shocked rights activists and lawyers.
Maxim Luzyanin, a businessman, had pleaded guilty to the charges of taking part in a mass riot and using violence against police in the chaotic protest on the eve of Putin’s inauguration to a third Kremlin term.
He is the first person to be convicted in a wide-ranging criminal probe over the rally which has seen 17 protesters charged.
The opposition has slammed it as part of a new crackdown on civil society.
The anti-Putin protest at Bolotnaya (Swamp) Square in central Moscow on May 6 descended into clashes between protesters and security forces with injuries on both sides.
The verdict was handed down by Judge Andrei Fedin at the Zamoskovoretsky District Court and shown on pro-Kremlin NTV television. Luzyanin’s lawyer Sergei Shushpanov said in comments on NTV that he would appeal the verdict.
Luzyanin is believed to be the only one of the 17 protesters charged to have pleaded guilty. Another suspect is the target of a criminal investigation which will likely lead to charges.
“This is just the beginning,” veteran Russian rights campaigner and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, told Interfax.
Maxim Luzyanin, a businessman, had pleaded guilty to the charges of taking part in a mass riot and using violence against police in the chaotic protest on the eve of Putin’s inauguration to a third Kremlin term.
He is the first person to be convicted in a wide-ranging criminal probe over the rally which has seen 17 protesters charged.
The opposition has slammed it as part of a new crackdown on civil society.
The anti-Putin protest at Bolotnaya (Swamp) Square in central Moscow on May 6 descended into clashes between protesters and security forces with injuries on both sides.
The verdict was handed down by Judge Andrei Fedin at the Zamoskovoretsky District Court and shown on pro-Kremlin NTV television. Luzyanin’s lawyer Sergei Shushpanov said in comments on NTV that he would appeal the verdict.
Luzyanin is believed to be the only one of the 17 protesters charged to have pleaded guilty. Another suspect is the target of a criminal investigation which will likely lead to charges.
“This is just the beginning,” veteran Russian rights campaigner and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, told Interfax.
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