Navalny's Campaign Chief Gets 30 Days In Jail In Nizhny Novgorod

Leonid Volkov (right) with Aleksi Navalny in April

Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's election campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, says he has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Volkov wrote on Twitter on December 1 that he was sentenced in Nizhny Novgorod for organizing a rally in the Volga River city on September 29.

The court said organizers did not have permission for the rally, but he contends that they did.

On October 2, a court in Moscow sentenced Volkov to 20 days in jail for organizing that rally. Three days later, Volkov was released and the case was sent for additional investigations.

Volkov wrote on Twitter that since he served four days in jail already, he will most likely be released sometime around December 26 -- and noted that the jail term was longer than his 24-day-old son's life so far.

Navalny, a foe of President Vladimir Putin, is campaigning for Russia's March 18 presidential election, despite a statement from the Central Election Committee that he cannot run because of a conviction in a financial-crimes case he says was politically motivated.

Putin is widely expected to seek and secure a new six-year term in the presidential election.