The Moscow City Court upheld the arrest of Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov

The Moscow City Court did not satisfy the petition for the arrest of the coordinator of the "Left Front" Sergei Udaltsov. This was reported on Udaltsov's twitter.

Judge Anna Seliverstova upheld the decision of the Mozhaysky District Court to arrest Udaltsov for 30 days under Part 8 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (repeated violation of the procedure for holding a public event).

At a meeting of the first instance, Udaltsov was accused of "destroying portraits of persons resembling state leaders at a rally on July 28." The politician was also charged with speaking through a bullhorn before the rally. In the Moscow City Court, Udaltsov's defender Violetta Volkova noted that this is a normal practice of notifying citizens to gather for an event. The lawyer also stated that the arrest was politically motivated: the politician was going to participate in a rally against the pension reform on September 2, and, in addition, he is a confidant of the candidate for mayor of Moscow from the Communist Party Vadim Kumin.

Udaltsov said in court that at the rally for which he was arrested, the police did not approach him and did not ask him to stop illegal actions. The politician also pointed out that the court of first instance refused to postpone the meeting, although his lawyer could not attend.

On Udaltsov's twitter, it is reported that the judge rejected the defense's request to interrogate the policemen who drew up the protocol and one of the organizers of the rally, Vladimir Rodin.

• Sergei Udaltsov was detained on August 14. He was taken to the police department in the Krasnoselsky district, where they drew up a protocol on an administrative offense in connection with a rally against pension reform, which took place in Moscow on July 28. On the same day, the Meshchansky District Court arrested the politician for 30 days.