An 18-year-old woman arrested for her role in a mass protest that turned violent has been formally indicted with beefed-up charges that could mean up to eight years in prison.
The court raised the stakes with the new charges filed against Alexandra Dukhanina Monday, originally accused of using violence against police and inciting a riot.
"The investigators found that she didn't call for mass unrest, she participated in it," the woman's lawyer Alexander Arutyunov told the Rapsi news agency.
The previous charges would have carried a maximum sentence of only two years in jail, Dmitry Yefremov, another lawyer for the woman, said.
Dukhanina, who is currently under house arrest, said she participated in the May 6 opposition event, but did not commit any acts of violence.
Dukhanina was first detained May 27 after a riot police officer identified her as having thrown a piece of asphalt at police during the May 6 "March of a Million" rally in the area surrounding Bolotnaya Ploshchad. Two other suspects, Maksim Luzyanin and Andrei Barabanov, have also been arrested in connection with violence at the rally.
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