-Source-ABC-
Russia's most prominent opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, was released from jail on Monday and then immediately arrested again and sentenced to another 20 days of detention.
Navalny was met by police officers at the door of a Moscow detention center as he stepped out of jail after serving a 30-day sentence for organizing an unauthorized rally.
He was immediately taken to a police station, and, late Monday evening, a court sentenced him to 20 additional days in jail after convicting him of a new protest violation, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter.
Navalny, 42, has become the best-known face of Russia's anti-Putin opposition and has been arrested regularly as he and his supporters have staged demonstrations criticizing the lack of political freedom and alleged corruption under President Vladimir Putin.
The court convicted Navalny of causing harm to a person or property resulting from his "action or inaction" during a demonstration he called for on Sept. 9 as part of nationwide protests against a plan to raise Russia's pension age. The harm alleged by the prosecution was that during the protest, which saw hundreds of people arrested, a police vehicle's paintwork was scratched by demonstrators.
Navalny himself was not present at the demonstration because he was already in jail, but police claimed he was responsible for the alleged damage since he had called for the protest to go ahead as planned. Read more
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