Udaltsov Seeking $300,000 After Arrest Ruled Illegal

By The Moscow Times

July 11, 2012

Left Front leader Udaltsov has been in and out of jail on short-term administrative offenses relating to unsanctioned protests over the past year.

Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov is seeking 10 million rubles ($304,000) in compensation from the state after the Supreme Court ruled that he was illegally arrested in December, the opposition firebrand said Wednesday.

"This means that I didn't fast in vain. Now I will seek compensation from the government for moral damages — 1 million rubles for every 24 hours in jail," Udaltsov wrote on social-networking site Twitter. He also thanked lawyers Violetta Volkova and Nikolai Polozov for their efforts in arguing his case.

The Supreme Court's judgment overrules a Dec. 10 verdict by Moscow's Zyuzinsky District Court sentencing Udaltsov to 15 days' administrative arrest for not returning to jail after he was hospitalized while serving a separate administrative sentence in October.

Shortly after the Dec. 10 verdict, Udaltsov went on hunger strike and, after falling ill, was hospitalized once more in critical condition.

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