LAWFUEL – The Legal newswire – Chessmaster Garry Kasparov has been beaten and imprisoned by Russian police after helping lead a protest in Moscow against President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
He was charged with organizing an unsanctioned protest and resisting arrest.
The arrest comes a week before Russia’s parliamentary election and has seen Kasparov jailed for five days. The march followed an authorized rally held by Kasparov and fellow opposition activists in downtown Moscow, attended by about 2,000 Russians.
The protesters moved toward the Russian Central Election Commission building, where they had planned to submit a petition questioning authorities’ adherence to democratic principles ahead of legislative elections Dec. 2.
While demonstrators did not have city permission to march to the election commission building, they avoided provoking a confrontation with police.
