The court closed the case about blocking roads at a rally for Navalny in Vladivostok

The court in Vladivostok closed the criminal case about blocking roads at a rally in support of opposition politician Alexei Navalny on January 23, 2021, OVD-Info reports. The case against eight activists was terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The participants of the protest were accused of the fact that during the rally they went out onto the road and blocked traffic on it. However, the lawyer involved in the case noted that the road was already blocked by police trucks and riot police chains – this can be seen in the video footage from the rally.

The investigation stated that the protesters, who entered into a conspiracy, created “a real threat to the safety of citizens who are in the immediate vicinity of the events that took place – both on the sidewalks and on the road itself.” The prosecutor’s office also stated that due to the blocking of the road, the ambulance could not get to the call to the seriously ill patient in time. It was not specified whether there were any consequences for the ego’s health.

• At rallies in support of Navalny, who was arrested in January 2021, when he returned to Russia after treatment for the effects of poisoning, almost twenty thousand people were detained. Criminal cases were opened against 186 of them in 41 regions of Russia. More than twenty participants of those protests are still in prison. Another twenty were released, having served their terms.