Russian opposition leader Navalny briefly
held ahead of March election
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[February 22, 2018]
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian
opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained by police on Thursday but
then released a short while later, weeks ahead of a presidential
election in which he has been barred from running.
A 41-year-old anti-corruption campaigner, Navalny has been repeatedly
jailed for organizing some of Russia's biggest protests in recent years,
railing against what he says are the gilded lives of President Vladimir
Putin and his inner circle.
He has been barred from running in the March 18 election over what his
supporters say is a trumped-up suspended prison sentence, but has called
for a nationwide boycott aimed at undermining Putin's legitimacy.
Whatever the turnout though, Putin is widely expected to win the
election by a landslide and secure a fourth term in the Kremlin.
Navalny said on Twitter that he was detained by police on Thursday as he
left from visiting the dentist. Just under an hour later, he said police
released him but said they had started legal proceedings against him for
organizing illegal protests.
"They offered me a lift somewhere, but I declined and have gone to work.
I don't understand what happened, and why it took seven people to detain
me," he said.
If found guilty, Navalny faces up to 30 days in jail.
Navalny's detention on Thursday came shortly after his campaign chief,
Leonid Volkov, also said on Twitter that he had been detained by police
at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny leaves the European court
of Human Rights after a hearing regarding his case against Russia at
the court in Strasbourg, France, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent
Kessler
A spokeswoman for Navalny said Volkov was still being held.
Tweeting before his detention, Navalny said Volkov had been planning
to fly to the Russian regional republic of Bashkortostan to organize
election-monitoring activities.
Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, told Reuters the head of the
opposition campaigner's Anti-corruption Foundation had been
sentenced to ten days in jail on Tuesday for organizing an
unsanctioned protest in January.
(Reporting by Jack Stubbs, Polina Devitt, Andrey Kuzmin, Maxim
Rodionov and Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Jack Stubbs; Editing by
Richard Balmforth)
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