MOSCOW
Russian police have detained dozens of supporters of anti-corruption blogger and opposition figure Alexei Navalny after they marched to Moscow's Manezh Square outside the Kremlin on Tuesday evening.
The demonstrators had been protesting against a legal verdict passed on Navalny and his brother, Oleg.
Originally, the protest had been planned for 15 January, the initial date for sentencing. On Monday, however, the court announced that it was moving the date of sentencing to the morning of 30 December.
Alexei Navalny himself attended the public meeting in spite of being sentenced to probation by the court earlier that morning. He was detained, but later tweeted to his supporters that the police had taken him home and put him under house arrest.
Between 100 and 170 people were detained during the protest, which lasted until approximately 9.00 p.m. local time, when riot police began to clear the square.
The Navalny brothers were convicted and sentenced on Tuesday in an embezzlement case which is widely regarded as politically motivated.
Alexei Navalny achieved notoriety as a blogger covering examples of purported corruption in the Russian government. During anti-government protests of 2011-2012, Navalny was seen as an unofficial leader in the opposition movement.
On Tuesday Alexei Navalny received three-and-a-half years’ probation while his brother Oleg was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. Both brothers received a fine of 500,000 rubles ($8,600).
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