Russian protest leader, Alexei Navalny, was released from a Moscow jail on Friday after serving 30 days for repeatedly violating a city ordinance against holding unauthorised rallies.
Navalny’s team has organised a series of weekly protests in central Moscow over the past month after several opposition politicians were controversially rejected from the ballot for upcoming city council elections.
Police have been accused of taking a heavy-handed approach to the demonstrations, grabbing protesters forcefully and dragging them into vans.
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Upon being released from jail, Navalny said the wave of protests would continue to grow.
“This regime will strongly regret what it has done,’’ he said.
He said those opposition politicians and protesters were taken into custody were “taken as hostages to scare everyone else’’.
Navalny is not currently running for office.
He ran for mayor of Moscow six years ago, garnering a quarter of the official vote count.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, endorsed by the ruling political party, won a slight majority at 51 per cent.
Navalny’s supporters accused the electoral authorities of vote-rigging. (NAN)