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Moscow court arrests Navalny for 30 days over violating rules of organizing rally

A TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom that Navalny has been found guilty of a repeated administrative offense, in particular violating the rules of organizing or holding a rally

MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. Moscow’s Simonovsky court has ordered the administrative arrest of Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny for 30 days for staging an unauthorized protest of the opposition.

A TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom that Navalny has been found guilty of a repeated administrative offense, in particular violating the rules of organizing or holding a rally.

Navalny's lawyer Dmitry Terekhov told TASS that in the next two days the defense will appeal the decision. However, the lawyer noted that he does not expect the Moscow City Court's decision to be positive for his client. In this case, according to Terekhov, the defense intends to reach the European Court of Human Rights.

It was reported earlier that Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny has been taken to a Moscow court to attend a hearing on an administrative case against him on violating the rules of holding rallies.

Moscow’s police earlier said that Navalny had posted calls in the Internet for moving from Sakharov Avenue, where an authorized opposition’s rally is held, to Tverskaya Street to take part in an unauthorized event. He was later detained by police and taken to a police station.

The prosecutors had warned organizers and participants of the rally in Sakharov Avenue that they would violate the law in case of trying to hold an unauthorized event on Tverskaya Street.

The Moscow authorities had approved a rally, organized by the opposition, for June 12 between 1.30 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. Moscow time from 38 Mashy Poryvayevoy Street to 9 Sakharov Avenue. On Sunday evening, some of the rally’s organizers called on the participants to relocate the rally to Tverskaya Street and begin the event at 2 p.m. Moscow time (1100GMT).