Protests at Moscow court as anti-Putin demonstrators are sentenced
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Version 0 of 1. A Moscow court has handed down prison sentences of up to four years for seven people who took part in a 2012 protest against Vladimir Putin. An eighth defendant received a suspended sentence. Hundreds of their supporters gathered outside the courthouse to condemn the trial and the Kremlin's crackdown on opponents. Police detained more than 100 of them, accusing them of violating public order. The defendants were among 28 people rounded up after a huge protest on 6 May 2012 on the eve of Putin's inauguration for a third presidential term. The rally turned violent after police restricted access to Bolotnaya Square, across the river from the Kremlin, where the protesters had planned to gather. The eight defendants were found guilty on Friday of taking part in mass riots and hitting policemen. The case is part of a harsh crackdown on the opposition protest movement since Putin returned to the Kremlin for his third term. Most of the defendants have been held in custody since 2012. Amnesty International called Friday's guilty verdict a "hideous injustice" and condemned the hearings as a "show trial". The court had postponed the sentencing until Monday in a move viewed by the opposition as an attempt to avoid publicity during Sunday's closing ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. During the sentencing, several hundred supporters gathered outside the court shouting slogans as security forces and riot police ordered them to disperse. More than 100 people were detained for public order offences, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing Moscow police. Some of those detained wore prison uniforms, while one wore a Putin mask. Two members of protest punk band Pussy Riot who were released from prison in December, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, came to support the defendants. Protest leader Alexei Navalny was among those held, writing on Twitter that police were "detaining people without any reason". Judge Natalya Nikishina said on Monday as she began reading out the sentences that the defendants "took part in mass riots, their shared blame is established and proved". |