MOSCOW (Reuters) – Yulia Galyamina, a Moscow city councillor and critic of the Kremlin, was given a a two-year suspended jail term on Wednesday after being found guilty of repeatedly violating rules for organising opposition protests.
Galyamina, who took part in an opposition campaign against constitutional reforms this year that could allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036, had dismissed the charge as politically motivated.
Russian authorities opened the case against Galyamina in July, accusing her of having “repeatedly violated” the rules for organising and staging protests.
Galyamina, who was greeted by cheers and claps from her supporters outside the courthouse, tweeted that she would appeal against her conviction and sentence. The prosecution had asked the court to jail her for three years.
Although she avoided prison time, the conviction bars her from running for office in next year’s parliamentary election and also means she loses her city councillor status, according to Dmitry Gudkov, an opposition politician.
Galyamina, 47, was involved in a campaign that planned a protest against constitutional reforms on July 15 in Moscow. Police detained dozens of people at the rally.
Adopted in July, the reforms allow Putin to seek two more six-year terms as president instead of stepping down in 2024 and, if re-elected, to stay in power until 2036. Other changes grant former presidents immunity from prosecution.
Human rights groups say Russia’s protest legislation criminalising repeated protest violations is designed to stifle dissent and dissuade the opposition from taking to the streets.
Amnesty International has said the charges against Galyamina were a travesty and amounted to “using the justice system to criminalise peaceful protests.”
(Reporting by Alexander Reshetnikov and Polina Nikolskaya; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Mark Heinrich)
