Moscow court sentences Alexey Navalny to 30 days in jail

A court in Moscow has sentenced opposition politician Alexey Navalny to 30 days in jail for disobeying police officers and repeatedly violating of Russia's laws on public assemblies.

Thirty-five minutes before the start of a major unsanctioned protest at Tverskaya Street in Moscow on June 12, police detained Navalny outside his home. His trial commenced hours later and concluded around midnight on Monday.

At the trial, Navalny's lawyers asked the judge to postpone the proceedings, arguing that they had not been given enough time to familiarize themselves with the case materials. The court, however, only granted the defense 10 additional minutes to review the evidence, and the trial then got underway.

Hours before a planned anti-corruption protest in Moscow on June 12, Alexey Navalny called on demonstrators to come to an unsanctioned march at Tverskaya Street (in the very center of the city), instead of Sakharov Prospekt, where he had a permit to stage a rally.

Navalny said the last-minute change of venue was necessary because the government allegedly pressured local companies into refusing to rent stage equipment to his team of organizers.