This weekend, several local and regional elections were held in Russia. The elections have been surrounded by both protests and accusations of electoral fraud. The choice of city duma - the equivalent of the city council - in Moscow has received the most attention and sparked major protests during the summer.

Great demonstrations

This after the Moscow Election Commission stopped fifty of the opposition candidates from running for election. Around 2,000 people have been arrested by police and several have been prosecuted and convicted - among other things for abuse and mass riots, which SVT has previously reported.

On Sunday, 15 detainees were detained for the political art collective Pussy Riot in Moscow, the art collective writes on Twitter. According to the activists, the background is that they wore rainbow flags and t-shirts in support of the protesters who were arrested in connection with the summer demonstrations.

Supported imprisoned political prisoners

One of those arrested was Maria Aljochina, who spent over a year in prison between 2012 and 2013 after participating in Pussy Riot's acclaimed Putin-critical campaign "The Punk Prayer" at the Salvation Cathedral in Moscow 2012.