The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been freed after three weeks behind bars for organising anti-Kremlin protests. The 42-year-old activist left a detention centre in the south of Moscow in the early hours of Sunday morning and went to a waiting car. The Kremlin suffered rare defeats in those polls, with voters rejecting candidates from the ruling United Russia party in at least two regions. Supporters fear that the two consecutive administrative cases mean the authorities may be getting ready to open a criminal case against Navalny. Amnesty International described Navalny as a prisoner of conscience and said he had committed no crime.

Source: The Guardian October 14, 2018 04:58 UTC