MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2021) A Moscow court on Friday placed close allies of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, including his top associate Lubov Sobol, coordinator of his team in Moscow Oleg Stepanov, Alexey's brother Oleg Navalny and Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, under house arrest for violating sanitary rules by calling for protests during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow issued a decision on the selection of a preventive measure in the form of house arrest against the suspect Lubov Sobol until March 23, 2021," the court's spokeswoman Olga Bondareva told Sputnik.
Oleg Navalny, Stepanov and Alyokhina, as well as Doctors' Alliance director Anastasia Vasilieva, were also placed under house arrest until March 23. Under the ruling, they are not allowed to leave their place of residence and to communicate with anyone except for their lawyers or close relatives.
All of them were detained on charges of violations of sanitary and epidemiological rules, which carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Thousands of protesters rallied across Russia over the weekend to demand the release of Navalny from police custody. The activist was arrested upon his arrival in Moscow from Germany on January 17 for violating probation conditions. The January 23 rally led to clashes with the police and mass detentions. As Navalny's supporters plan to hold another rally on Sunday, the Russian Interior Ministry and Prosecutor's office warned about the Criminal Code's article on mass riots that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The ministry also said that COVID-19 restrictions are in place in a number of Russian regions and their violation is also punishable by law.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that organizers of unauthorized rallies are provocateurs. President Vladimir Putin has said that everyone has a right to express their opinion but "anything that goes beyond the law is not just counterproductive, but dangerous."
