Police in Russia's only region with open elections have detained the candidate leading the opposition's ticket

The candidate leading the ticket for the Democratic Coalition in Kostroma, Ilya Yashin, has been detained by local police. Police apprehended him while he was meeting voters earlier today.

On Twitter, the director of Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, Roman Rubanov, wrote that Yashin is being charged with refusing to obey a police officer. 

Update: Several hours after being detained, Yashin was released from police custody. His court date isn't yet set, but a conviction could send him to jail for as many as 15 days.

The Russian opposition has put forth candidates for 2015 regional parliamentary elections in Kostroma, Kaluga, Magadan, and Novosibirsk regions. In most of these regions, opposition candidates are running as representatives of the Democratic Coalition, an alliance between several opposition groups (Parnas, Alexei Navalny’s Party of Progress, the Democratic Choice Party, the 5th of December Party, and the Libertarian Party). In Kostroma region, candidates are running as representatives of Parnas, the People’s Freedom Party.

The elections commissions of all regions but Kostroma have barred the opposition from elections.

Earlier, Kostroma elections officials recommended removing the opposition's candidates from the race because they had allegedly fallen short of the minimum required number of signatures in support of their party. The elections commission reviewed the recommendations and ruled that they were unfounded.

Elections will take place on September 13, 2015, on Russia's general Election Day.