MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court upheld a 20,000-ruble ($350) fine levied against Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny for organizing an unauthorized rally in downtown Moscow on March 26.

A spokesman for the court said that the ruling by Moscow’s Tverskoy court will remain in force and a motion filed by Navalny’s lawyers was denied.

Navalny was detained during an unauthorized rally in central Moscow on March 26. According to the Moscow Regional Security Department, more than 600 people were taken into custody.

Earlier, the rally’s organizers rejected city officials’ proposal for holding the demonstration in question in Moscow’s Sokolniki park or in the neighborhood of Maryino. Flying in the face of city regulations, opposition organizations held the rally in the center of Moscow anyway without any permission from Moscow’s City Hall.

Navalny was detained for staging the rally and for resisting arrest. The Tverskoy court levied a fine against him and sentenced him to a 15-day arrest for resisting police.