Thousands of protesters march through Russia demanding the release of Alexei Navalny

Описание: Thousands of protesters marched through the Russian city of Tomsk on Saturday demanding the release of top Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent and durable foe, was arrested on Jan. 17 when he returned to Moscow from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a severe nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.

Authorities say his stay in Germany violated terms of a suspended sentence in a criminal conviction in a case that Navalny says was illegitimate. He is to appear in court in early February to determine if he will serve the 3 1/2-year sentence in prison.

Protesters in Tomsk were led by the local Navalny headquarters coordinator Ksenia Fadeyeva and city duma deputy Andrey Fateyev.

Fadeyeva said she had never seen so many demonstrators out on the streets in the city.

Protests were taking place across Russia on Saturday with thousands also turning out in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk

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