An opposition activist was jailed for an unprecedented 27 days in St. Petersburg on Monday after attending a banned opposition rally over the weekend, Interfax reported.
Andrei Pivovarov was convicted of resisting arrest on Sunday and during a similar rally on Aug. 31, said an unidentified representative of his group, the Russian People’s Democratic Union. Police did not comment on the report.
Pivovarov was sentenced to 14 days in jail over August’s rally in mid-September, but a retrial was ordered on appeal.
On Sunday, police briefly detained 113 of the 170 people who tried to rally at Gostiny Dvor and on Nevsky Prospekt, a St. Petersburg police spokesman said Monday.
A similar opposition event was permitted by Moscow City Hall, but 38 people were detained for trying to take the rally outside the designated venue on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad, Interfax said.
(MT)
