Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Released From Prison, Re-Arrested 'Seconds' Later

The Russian opposition leader was detained on Monday for allegedly violating protest laws -- moments after being released from jail.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, pictured on August 27, 2018.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, pictured on August 27, 2018.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) ― Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained again on Monday for allegedly violating protest laws while he was being released from a 30-day jail stint on the same charge, his associate said.

Navalny, who was detained by police outside his home in Moscow last month, was sentenced to jail for planning an unauthorized demonstration in the Russian capital in January that called for a boycott of what he said would be a rigged presidential election.

Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally, wrote on Twitter on Monday morning that Navalny had been taken to a police station as he walked out of jail and was again being accused of violating protest laws.

Navalny, 42, has said his jail sentence was designed by the authorities to prevent him from leading protests against unpopular pension reform across the country earlier this month.

More than 800 people were detained nationwide during those demonstrations.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Paul Tait)

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