Muscovites Rally to Free “Political Prisoners”
A rally was held on central Moscow’s Pushkin Square Thursday evening to protest the imprisonment of “political prisoners” like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Mikhail Trepashkin. Protest banners read “Freedom for political prisoners! Freedom for Russia!” Anywhere from 300-500 people were present at the rally, which lasted from 7 p.m. to about 8 p.m., a correspondent told MosNews.
The rally was organized by the movement Russian Radicals, the Conscience group, and the movement For Human Rights. In particular, protesters spoke out about Igor Sutyagin, sentenced to 15 years for espionage, Mikhail Trepashkin, who investigated the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings and was convicted on what he has said are trumped-up charges, and oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose arrest in October was widely seen as a move to clamp down on his political ambitions.
The calls to free the “political prisoners” were led by the Democratic Union leader, Valeriya Novodvorskaya, who addressed protesters from a cage similar to the one defendants are placed in during Russian trials.
Protesters handed out envelopes with Khodorkovksy’s prison address, inviting people to write letters to him.
Police were present towards the end when the crowds were dispersing, but no incidents were reported.
