Police Detain Scores Of Protesters As Bolotnaya Trial Ends

Police detained some 200 people outside a Moscow court on February 24 as they rallied in support of eight convicted of rioting and assaulting police in a May 2012 protest. Opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and two members of the punk protest group Pussy Riot were among the detainees. The demonstration took place as the court handed down jail sentences of up to four years to seven of the defendants involved in the Bolotnaya protest, which ended in violent clashes with police. One defendant received a suspended sentence. (RFE/RL's Russian Service)