Putin opponent freed as Prez race heats up
Moscow, Oct. 22: Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny walked free on Sunday after a 20-day jail term for organising protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Navalny, who has declared his intention to stand for President in 2018, was released in a secret location in Moscow early on Sunday to evade media attention.
“Hi. I’m out,” Mr Navalny wrote on Instagram, posting a picture of himself on a street. A photographer working for his team later posted photographs of him meeting colleagues at the office of his anti-corruption foundation.
During Mr Navalny’s time behind bars, the Kremlin race he hopes to contest has heated up with television star Ksenia Sobchak throwing in her hat.
Mr Navalny said he was “ready to work” and would meet supporters later on Sunday in the southern city of Astrakhan.
He wrote jokingly that while in jail he had read 20 books, learnt a few words of the Kyrgyz language and drunk 80 litres of tea. Earlier on Sunday, supporters of Mr Navalny hung a banner from a bridge close to the Kremlin reading: “It’s time to get rid of Putin and time to elect Navalny.”
The charismatic 41-yearold lawyer informally launched a presidential bid in December last year and has since opened campaign offices and held rallies countrywide to consolidate supporters.
Earlier this year he served sentences of 15 days and 25 days for organising unauthorised anti-Putin protests.
During his latest jail term, his supporters held rallies on Mr Putin’s birthday on October 7, with more than 270 detained nationwide.
— AFP