In Russia tens of thousands of Navalny supporters are protesting for the release of the opposition politician.
More than 2,000 people were arrested.
In Russia, people across the country are protesting against the
imprisonment of the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny
(see first report)
.
According to a civil rights movement, over 2,000 people have already been arrested
(see update from January 23, 5.45 p.m.)
.
Navalny's wife
Julia Navalnaya,
who was also arrested, was released.
Update from January 23, 5:35 p.m.:
Julia Navalnaja
, the wife of the imprisoned
Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny
, was released by the Moscow police on Saturday afternoon.
This is confirmed by media reports and sources
close to the
Navalny
family
.
Navalnaya
was
taken into
police
custody
on Saturday
as she took part in a demonstration demanding the release of her husband.
Alexej Navalny: Tens of thousands demonstrate nationwide for the release of the Krem critic
All over
Russia
tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the arrest of Navalny and the policies of Russian President
Vladimir Putin
.
There were also violent clashes between
demonstrators
and the
police
.
The
human rights organization
OWD spoke of at least 2,131
arrests across the
country
on Saturday evening
.
However, the police operations would continue.
Alexei Navalny,
who
barely survived
an attack with the
neurotoxin Novitschok
last year, returned to
Russia
at the beginning of January after being treated in Germany
.
The 44-year-old was arrested at the airport when he arrived and has been in police custody ever since.
Update January 23, 14:15:
Even
Alexei Nawalnys mother
should be involved in the protest action in Russia.
The Kremlin critic's team posted
a photo of her
shortly before the arrest of
Julia Navalnaya became known
.
Navalny faces several criminal proceedings and many years in prison.
The civil rights movement OWD now counts more than 1,000 arrests nationwide during the protests.
These are also targeted against
Vladimir Putin
after the Navalny team recently published an unveiling video that is supposed to prove that Putin had a “tsarist empire” built on the Black Sea from bribes.
Alexei Navalny's wife: Julia Navalnaya arrested in Moscow - mail from prisoner's car
Update from January 23, 1:50 p.m.:
Alexej Navalny's wife
Julia Navalnaya
was arrested during the protests for the release of the Kremlin critic.
"Please excuse the poor image quality," she wrote on Saturday in response to an Instagram post she published.
The lighting conditions are very bad.
The photo shows her in a prisoner van.
Update from January 23, 1:20 p.m.:
The Russia-wide protests for the release of the detained
Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny
have reached the capital Moscow.
Police arrested several demonstrators on Saturday afternoon, as a reporter from the
German Press Agency
reported on site.
Also
Nawalnys closest colleague, the lawyer Lyubov Sobol
, was arrested.
Among the thousands of protesters were many young people and middle-class people.
In contrast to unauthorized rallies in the past, the central Pushkin Square was not cordoned off in large areas.
Activists complained about the internet being throttled.
“Putin is a thief,”
shouted the people in Moscow - as they did in many other cities in the country where the protests took place several hours earlier than in the capital due to the time difference.
Nationwide, the civil rights organization OWD counted 369 arrests by the afternoon.
But there were also reports from security forces who did not intervene but let the people march.
The Russian authorities are threatening heavy fines for participating in the unauthorized rallies on Saturday.
Numerous supporters of the opposition politician had already been arrested in the past few days.
Protests in Russia: People demonstrate against the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny
First report from January 23, 11 a.m .:
Moscow - When the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny returned to Russia after a month-long stay, he was immediately arrested.
Now he is to serve a 30-day prison sentence after a controversial urgent procedure.
But resistance is forming against it.
Inside and outside the country.
Russia has
refused to
interfere from abroad
because of the protests for the
release of the detained Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny *
.
The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the US embassy in Moscow in a statement, which had listed several demonstrations planned for Saturday with exact meeting points and times.
Under the guise of concerns about the safety of US citizens abroad, Washington wants to fuel the protests in Russia, criticized Moscow.
Navalny's supporters
have called for protests in more than 90 Russian cities this Saturday.
They are demanding the release of Putin's opponent, who was sentenced to 30 days in prison on Monday in a controversial urgent procedure.
He is said to have violated reporting requirements in previous criminal proceedings while he was recovering from a poison attack in Germany.
Navalny and his team see the judiciary's actions as politically motivated.
Navalny protests in Russia: Kremlin critics sentenced to imprisonment - already 125 arrests in counter-demos
By Saturday afternoon Moscow time, the
civil rights organization OWD had already
counted
125 arrests
in cities where the protests were scheduled several hours earlier than in the capital due to the time difference.
In many places, however, the police did not intervene, as can be seen on videos on social networks.
In the Siberian city of Tomsk, where Navalny was the
victim of an attack with the neurotoxin Novichok
in August
, people are said to have gathered for the largest unauthorized demonstration in years.
Navalny makes
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin *
and the FSB for the assassination responsible.
Putin and the FSB reject that.
Navalny's supporters spoke of thousands of demonstrators in Khabarovsk, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk.
The crowd chanted "We have the power" and "Putin is a thief".
At the beginning of the week, Nawalny's team published a highly acclaimed unveiling video entitled “A Palace for Putin”, which is supposed to prove that the president had a “tsarist empire” built on the Black Sea from bribes.
The
Kremlin describes the allegations as a "lie"
.
The authorities are threatening heavy fines for participating in the unauthorized rallies.
Numerous supporters of the opposition politician had already been arrested in the past few days.
(dpa)