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Udaltsov's House Arrest Is Prolonged

Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov, head shaven, being escorted to his hearing at a Moscow court on Monday. Alexander Zemlianichenko

Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, who has been accused of scheming to incite "mass disorder," will spend the summer at home.

A Moscow court on Monday ruled that his house arrest would continue till Aug. 6, during which time he is unable to speak with fellow activists, use the telephone or Internet, or even go outside without police supervision.

The head of the radical socialist Left Front movement, who has been under house arrest since Feb. 9, told the Basmanny District Court that he had done nothing wrong and his innocence would be proven.

He was initially given the right to leave his apartment under the condition that he would not leave town, but the court ruled that he had violated that agreement on numerous occasions.

The accusations against Udaltsov, which include plotting to violently overthrow the ruling regime, were officially made after a man purported to be him was shown in a national television exposО discussing funding from a political ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to support his cause.

In the video, the grainy figures resembling Udaltsov and Georgian politician Givi Targamadze discuss inciting a revolt. Udaltsov has claimed that he was not in the footage.

Georgia and Russia fought a five-day war in August 2008, and relations between the countries have only recently begun to improve, following the election of a new Georgian prime minister with close ties to Russia.

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