Moscow Prosecutors Question Protest Leader Udaltsov

MOSCOW, November 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russian protest leader Sergei Udaltsov has arrived at the Moscow prosecutor’s office to answer questions regarding the suspected extremist activities of the opposition Left Front movement he leads.

Udaltsov arrived with his lawyer Violetta Volkova and told journalists that he had brought all the necessary documents and was “afraid of nothing.”

Last week, Udaltsov said he was summoned for questioning by Moscow prosecutors who had asked him to bring financial and charter documents for Left Front in connection with a probe into the group’s possible extremism.

Udaltsov said the probe could be a first step by the authorities toward declaring Left Front an extremist organization.

The meeting was rescheduled for Friday because his lawyer Volkova was ill.

Udaltsov faces personal charges of plotting mass disorder and could face up to 10 years behind bars if found guilty.

The case against Udaltsov was opened after the October 5 broadcast of Anatomy of a Protest 2, the second part of a documentary film aired by the state-owned NTV television network.

The program claimed to show Udaltsov and two other opposition figures, Konstantin Lebedev and Leonid Razvozzhayev, plotting “mass disorder” together with an influential Georgian politician.

The activist was released upon a written pledge not to leave the country. He denies all the charges against him.

Udaltsov has been one of the key leaders in a series of mass protests which began in Russia following the parliamentary elections last December.

 

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