Russian courts have sentenced hundreds of people arrested at memorials for Putin critic Alexei Navalny, who died on Friday, to short prison terms. This is evident from official announcements from the court.
In St. Petersburg alone, 154 people were convicted. They were given sentences of up to fourteen days for violating anti-protest laws. Human rights groups and independent media reported a handful of similar punishments in other cities in Russia.
On Saturday, more than four hundred people were arrested at memorial rallies for Navalny, according to human rights organization OVD Info. The arrests took place in 32 cities.
It was the largest wave of arrests at political events in Russia since September 2022, when more than 1,300 activists were arrested during demonstrations against the mobilization of reservists for the war in Ukraine.
Navalny (47) died on Friday in a prison camp in northern Russia. He served a prison sentence of more than thirty years there for founding an ‘extremist group’. His cause of death has not yet been determined.