ACHINSK, Russia -- A Russian court has sentenced a member of an outlawed Russian nationalist opposition movement to 3 1/2 years in prison for allegedly plotting mass disturbances, his wife says.
Roman Maryan was tried and sentenced in the Achinsk City Court in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Krai region, his wife Olga Maryan told RFE/RL on August 27.
Maryan, a member of the Artpodgotovka (Artillery Bombardment) movement, was arrested in November aboard a train on his way to Moscow where he intended to take part in a rally by nationalists.
Maryan's trial started in April.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Hundreds of members of the Artpodgotovka movement were detained on November 5 at rallies in Moscow and other Russian cities ahead of the centennial of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Vyacheslav Maltsev, an outspoken Kremlin critic and leader of the movement, said the day would mark the start of a "new revolution" to topple Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.
In November, Maltsev told RFE/RL that he had become a "political refugee" in a European Union member state.
In May 2017, Maltsev was charged in absentia with publicly calling for extremist activities.
His Artpodgotovka movement was banned in October by an order from a regional court in the city of Krasnoyarsk.
