MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Moscow’s Presnensky District Court has put Mikahil Svetov, a co-organizer of a rally in support of candidates barred from running for Moscow’s City Council, into custody for 30 days for repeatedly violating the rules for organizing rallies, a court source told TASS.

"The Court has found Svetov guilty of violating Article 20.2.8 of the Russian Administrative Code (a repeated violation of the rules for organizing rallies) and sentenced him to 30 days in custody," the source said.

According to earlier reports, Svetov, a member of the Libertarian Party of Russia, was detained in downtown Moscow following talks with the Moscow Mayor’s Office about holding a rally on August 3 during which the Moscow authorities and the rally’s organizers had failed to reach an agreement on the matter. Libertarian Party members had filed an application to hold a rally on Lubyanka Square between 14:00 and 16:00 on August 3 with up to 15,000 participants. The Mayor’s Office rejected the application, suggesting the activity take place on Sakharov Avenue but the organizers did not agree to that.

On July 27, an authorized rally in support of the so-called independent candidates barred from running for Moscow’s City Council took place in downtown Moscow. According to police, the rally involved more than 3,500 people, over 1,000 of whom were detained. The Russian Investigative Committee opened four criminal investigations into attacks on law enforcement officers. Courts have arrested over 60 participants in the rally and fined more than 160.

The authorities had warned the rally’s participants that violations of law would lead to liability. Moscow’s Prosecutor’s Office is running 15 administrative cases against 15 unregistered candidates for the Moscow City Council (the city’s legislature) who are the organizers of the July 14 and 27 unauthorized rallies.