Navalny fined 20 thousand rubles for unauthorized rally in Moscow
A Moscow court has found opposition figure Alexei Navalny guilty of organizing an unauthorized rally in the center of the Russian capital at the weekend and fined him 20,000 rubles ($350), TASS reports.
According to the police, about 500 people were detained in an unauthorized rally in the center of Moscow on Sunday. During the court hearing, Navalny blamed the Moscow government for detentions as it had not allowed the rally and had failed to offer an alternative venue within the timeframe established by law.
The rally’s organizers earlier rejected a proposal by the city’s authorities to hold the protest in Sokolniki Park in northeast Moscow or in the area of Maryino in the southeast of the Russian capital. As a result, opposition organizations held their action in the center of Moscow on March 26. The action was not agreed with the city’s authorities.
Navalny said in the court he was the organizer of the rally in downtown Moscow on March 26 but called it lawful and consistent with a decision by Russia’s Constitutional Court.
