You're reading: Sergei Udaltsov on hunger strike over July 24 court verdict

Moscow - Russian opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov has begun a hunger strike in protest over the Moscow City Court's July 24 decision to sentence him to four-and-a-half years in prison for organizing mass riots in Bolotnaya Square in the center of Moscow on May 6, 2012.

“Sergei Udaltsov has gone on an indefinite hunger strike in the
remand center in protest over his illegal conviction,” the opposition
member’s supporters said on their Twitter account.

It was reported earlier that the Moscow City Court found Udaltsov and
Razvozzhayev guilty of organizing mass unrest on Bolotnaya Square in
Moscow on May 6, 2012 and sentenced them to four and a half years in
prison each.

Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev have been charged with the organization of
mass unrest involving violence, pogroms, arson, and destruction of
property and preparations for organizing such unrest. Razvozzhayev has
also been charged with an illegal border crossing. According to the
verdict, the two will service the sentence at the medium security penal
colony.

Lawyers for the two opposition figures already said that they would appeal the verdict.

The court found that Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev, along with Konstantin
Lebedev and Georgian citizen Givi Targamadze, incited mass unrest on
Bolotnaya Square in Moscow on May 6, 2012 and planned similar incidents
in Russia after that.

Lebedev, a Left Front activist, had earlier been sentenced to 2.5
years in prison on the same charges as those brought against Udaltsov
and Razvozzhayev. Lebedev fully confessed to his wrongdoing, and his
case was heard in a special procedure. Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court
granted Lebedev a parole on April 24, 2014, and he left the
penitentiary on May 6.