Russian Kremlin opponent jailed after rally

The prominent opponent of the Kremlin, Boris Nemtsov, has been jailed for 15 days after being arrested at a New Year’s Eve rally in Moscow.

Two others also received short jail terms.

His supporters said it was evidence of the Kremlin’s hardening attitude to opposition.

The veteran human rights campaigner and leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, said: ‘What else should our judicial system be ashamed of after the jailing of Mikhail Khordokovsky? Nobody considers it a real court system anyway. It’s a circus and a joke, not a court.’

It is the first time in several years that opposition leaders have been imprisoned, even for a short time.

Nemtsov, who was Russia’s deputy prime minister in the 1990s, was arrested for ‘disobeying the police’ at a demonstration against freedom of assembly.

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