Highlights: Russia condemns more than 150 people for rallies in tribute to Alexei Navalny. In St. Petersburg alone, judges on Saturday and Sunday sentenced 154 of them to terms of up to 14 days in prison. This weekend, police arrested hundreds of Russians in dozens of cities who had gone to lay flowers and light candles in his honor at memorials to victims of Stalin-era repression. Protests against the Kremlin and other public actions opposing the regime are illegal in Russia, notably under legislation banning unauthorized gatherings.

Russian justice sentenced at least 150 people arrested during tributes to opponent Alexeï Navalny to prison terms this weekend, according to court data published on Sunday February 17.…

Russia condemns more than 150 people for rallies in tribute to Alexei Navalny

Russian justice sentenced at least 150 people arrested during tributes to opponent Alexeï Navalny to prison terms this weekend, according to court data published on Sunday February 17. These arrests took place officially for having violated the strict legislation governing demonstrations.

Police detain a man who wanted to lay flowers to pay his last respects to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large rock in the Solovetsky Islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, in St. Petersburg, Russia , Saturday February 17, 2024. AP

By: RFI Follow

In St. Petersburg alone, Russia's second city, judges on Saturday and Sunday sentenced 154 of them to terms of up to 14 days in prison, according to decisions made public by the press service of the courts of this city, in the North-West.

Human rights groups and independent media reported several similar convictions in other cities.

Alexeï Navalny died on Friday February 16

at the age of 47 in the Arctic penal colony where he was detained. Relatives of Alexeï Navalny on Saturday described the Russian authorities as “

killers

”

seeking to “

cover their tracks
”

by refusing to hand over his body. The Kremlin remains silent despite accusations from the West and rallies in tribute to the opponent.

This weekend, police arrested hundreds of Russians in dozens of cities who had gone to lay flowers and light candles in his honor at memorials to victims of Stalin-era repression.

Police and plainclothes patrolled sites in dozens of Russian cities where people gathered to pay their respects to Alexei Navalny this weekend.

They were notably seen overnight removing temporary memorials and images showed hooded men putting flowers in trash bags on a bridge near the Kremlin where another leading opponent of Vladimir Putin, Boris Nemtsov, was killed in 2015.

Protests against the Kremlin and other public actions opposing the regime are illegal in Russia, notably under legislation banning unauthorized gatherings.

(With AFP)

Read alsoDeath of Alexeï Navalny: Russians between emotion, indifference and leaden screed

Russia condemns more than 150 people for rallies in tribute to Alexei Navalny

Russia condemns more than 150 people for rallies in tribute to Alexei Navalny

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