Putin faces more anger says jailed opponent
RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin’s government will face further demonstrations of public discontent after a wave of anti-corruption protests swept Russia at the weekend, the opposition leader arrested for leading the rallies has said.
Alexei Navalny, 40, was jailed for 15 days yesterday for disobeying a police officer at a protest against government corruption in central Moscow at the weekend.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 rubles (NZ$500) for organising an unsanctioned demonstration.
‘‘You can’t detain tens of thousands of people,’’ Navalny told reporters in the courtroom. ‘‘Yesterday [Monday] we saw the authorities can only go so far.’’
More than 1000 people were arrested in cities across Russia on Monday following dozens of demonstrations demanding that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev resign over corruption allegations released in a dossier compiled by Navalny.
Medvedev’s spokesman described the allegations as ‘‘propagandistic attacks’’ unworthy of detailed comment and said they amounted to pre-election posturing by Navalny.
Police also arrested 17 people at the office of Navalny’s anticorruption campaign group, which was running a webcast of the Moscow demonstration.
After arriving in court yesterday, Navalny tweeted a selfie with the caption: ‘‘A time will come when we’ll put them on trial too – and that time it will be fair.’’
Navalny struck a defiant note at the hearing, demanding that Medvedev be called as a witness to explain the alleged corruption people were protesting about and saying he and his allies would not be deterred.
Monday’s demonstrations were the largest expression of discontent with Putin’s government since the winter of 2011-12, when a series of massive protests took place in Moscow following elections marred by accusations of fraud. – Telegraph Group