A Russian man charged with assaulting a police officer during an unsanctioned rally has been remanded in pretrial custody after failing to win an appeal of his arrest.
The Moscow City Court on September 30 rejected Nikita Chirtsov's appeal and ordered that he remain in detention until November 2.
Chirtsov was initially detained at an unsanctioned rally in Moscow on July 27 to protest the refusal by election officials to register independent and opposition candidates for September 8 elections to the Moscow city council.
He was then charged with violation of regulations for holding public events and fined 12,000 rubles ($185), after which he left Moscow for the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
However, Belarusian officials detained him days later on a Russian request and ordered him sent back to Moscow from Minsk.
Upon his return, Chirtsov was rearrested and charged with assaulting a police officer during the rally and sent to pretrial detention.
In all, 17 people have been arrested and charged with attacking law enforcement officers during the rally. Some of them have been convicted already, while some have been released.
