Trial Of Russian Opposition Activist Lebedev Starts In Moscow

Konstantin Lebedev, an aide to opposition Left Front movement leader Sergei Udaltsov, sitting in the dock in a Moscow court in October 2012.

Prosecutors have requested that Russian civil rights activist Konstantin Lebedev be sentenced to five years in prison.

Lebedev pleaded guilty at the start of his trial on April 21 to organizing mass disorders and he expressed remorse.

The judge said Lebedev's sentence will be announced on April 25.

Lebedev was accused of organizing violent protests on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square in May, 2012, along with opposition Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, activist Leonid Razvozzhayev and Georgian politician Givi Targamadze.

Last October, a pro-Kremlin television channel aired a documentary claiming that Targamadze met with Udaltsov to plan riots in Moscow.

Udaltsov, Lebedev, and Razvozzhayev were later charged with the protest in Moscow in May 2012.

Razvozzhayev was arrested in October; Udaltsov has been under house arrest.

In February, Russia issued an international arrest warrant for Targamadze.

Based on reporting by Interfax and RIA-Novosti