Moscow Court Says Opposition Activist's Arrest Legal

Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front opposition party, speaks with journalists during a protest in Moscow on October 12.

MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has ruled that the arrest of an organizer of Russia's mass protest on December 10 was legal, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Sergei Udaltsov, a coordinator of the opposition Left Front movement, was arrested for "illegally leaving a hospital while serving a multi-day jail term for holding an unsanctioned mass gathering in the past."

Udaltsov was one of the organizers of a December 10 Moscow protest, one of dozens nationwide calling for fresh parliamentary elections following what protesters claim was a rigged poll on December 4.

Udaltsov was again sent from the courtroom to the hospital on December 10.

Udaltsov told RFE/RL on December 12 that his lawyers plan to appeal the ruling, and added that he is on a hunger strike.

He said several policemen are monitoring him in the hospital.

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