Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny freed after 50 days in jail
Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from jail after serving 50 days on two consecutive sentences for organising unsanctioned protests.
Mr Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent rival, had been sentenced to 30 days for organising a protest in August.
But upon release he was immediately arrested and then sentenced to another 20 days for organising a protest that took place while he was in jail.
Both protests were against a Russian government plan to raise the eligibility age for state pensions, which has since been signed into law.
After his release early on Sunday, Mr Navalny told reporters “I think over the 50 days which I spent here, we saw a lot of evidence that this regime has absolutely deteriorated: from failures in foreign intelligence to failures in space industry.”