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About 5,000 people detained in Moscow during unsanctioned rallies on January 23 and later

Moscow’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Potyaeva said she had received 90 requests from citizens after the rallies

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. About 5,000 people were detained in Moscow during the unsanctioned rallies on January 23 and over the following days, Moscow’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Potyaeva said during an online session of the Moscow State Duma.

"According to the data of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for Moscow, in the period of unsanctioned rallies on January 23, [January] 31, February 2, and over the following days, about 5,000 people were detained, including a significant number of underage persons," Potyaeva said.

She added that she had received 90 requests from citizens after the rallies. The commissioner’s office is working on all these requests, she noted.

Unsanctioned rallies in support of Alexey Navalny were held in Moscow and other major cities on January 23 and 31. On February 2, people took to the streets in Moscow after Navalny’s suspended sentence was replaced with a real one. Law enforcement bodies repeatedly warned their participants of liability for taking part in an unsanctioned event.