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| - A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman to nine days in jail for calling on people to join demonstrations in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The sentence follows a wave of recent court rulings that have sidelined or sent into exile allies of Navalny, who was jailed by authorities in February for more than two years on old embezzlement charges he claimed were politically motivated. Roizman, 58, was mayor of Russia's fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg between 2013 and 2018 and frequently participates in rallies organised by the opposition, including Navalny. He was additionally accused of "organising an unsanctioned event" on January 31 and April 21 through posts on his Twitter account that has close to 500,000 followers. A court in Yekaterinburg found him guilty and sentenced Roizman to nine days in jail on both charges, the state-run TASS news agency reported. The jail terms will be served simultaneously, so the politician will spend a total of nine days behind bars. Roizman pleaded not guilty to both offences. He was also sentenced to 30 days of community service for taking part in the April rally, local news website Znak.ru reported. Earlier in March, Roizman was fined 20,000 rubles (around $270) for taking part in rallies on January 23 and 31. The winter marches were held in cities across Russia just after Navalny, 44, returned to Moscow from Germany, where he was recovering from nerve agent poisoning. Navalny was taken into custody for allegedly breaching parole terms and in February was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a penal colony. Navalny announced a hunger strike in late March, demanding proper medical treatment for pain in his back and numbness in his legs, sparking fresh nationwide rallies on April 21. He ended his hunger strike after 24 days. The rallies were met with a harsh responses from authorities, with participants receiving fines and short jail terms and some facing several years in prison. Last month, authorities moved to abolish Navalny's movement in Russia, seeking to designate two of his key organisations as "extremist", entailing an effective ban. acl/jbr/tgb
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