Russian Court Annuls Criminal Records Of Two Bolotnaya Protesters

More than 400 people have been detained and several dozen people prosecuted in connection with the Bolotnaya protest in 2012.

Russia's Supreme Court has annulled the records of arrest, conviction, and sentence of two activists who demonstrated against President Vladimir Putin's reelection on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square in 2012.

The court issued the ruling on October 5 after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled last month that the arrests of Ilya Gushchin, Artyom Savelov, and another Bolotnaya protester, Leonid Kovyazin, were illegal.

The ECHR granted financial compensation of up to 3,000 euros ($3,360) for each of the three activists.

More than 400 people have been detained and several dozen people prosecuted in connection with the Bolotnaya protest.

In February 2014, the three activists and five other Bolotnaya protesters were found guilty of hooliganism and given prison sentences. Some of them were suspended sentences.

Gushchin and Savelov’s prison terms have already expired.

Based on reporting by TASS and Rapsinews