MOSCOW - Russia’s most prominent opposition leader was released from police custody Friday, a day after his conviction on embezzlement charges, as Russian authorities edged back from a decision that set off angry protests in several of Russia’s largest cities.
Late Thursday, the prosecutor in Kirov, where opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, petitioned the judge to release Navalny pending his appeal, arguing that the arrest prevented him from taking part in the Moscow mayoral election. That could keep Navalny out of prison for more than a month, perhaps temporarily neutralizing the anger at the verdict while allowing him to run for mayor of Moscow in September.
Navalny, who once branded President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia political machine the “party of swindlers and thieves,” was apparently singled out by the Kremlin after having grown in stature from his beginnings as an anti-corruption blogger and leader of street protests to a populist candidate for mayor.
Asked to make a comment during the hearing Friday, Navalny reflected on the nature of the prosecutor’s motion to release him.
“I request that you verify the identity of Prosecutor Sergei Bogdanov,” he said. “It’s possible that it is not Prosecutor Bogdanov but his double. Because it was namely Prosecutor Bogdanov demanded that I be arrested in the courtroom.”
Navalny said it’s “impossible to predict” whether the move to set him free could raise the chances of his acquittal on appeal. He also said he has not yet decided whether to continue his mayoral campaign.
“I’m not some kitten or a puppy that can be thrown out of election, say, ‘You’re not running,’ and later say, ‘Yes, let’s get him back in.’ I will get back to Moscow and we will talk it over with my election headquarters,” he said.
Asked if Navalny could be pardoned, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said inremarks carried by Russian news agencies that he would have to plead guilty first. He refused to comment on the verdict and Navalny’s release from custody.
Although the prosecutor’s motivation was not clear, Navalny’s supporters believed the protests had swung the balance.
Analysts saw Navalny’s sudden release as likely reflecting arguments within the Kremlin about how to respond to his popularity. He has earned rock-star status among his urban middle-class supporters, even if he has little influence among everyday Russians.
They also saw the move as an attempt to lend legitimacy to the Sept. 8 mayoral votewidely expected to be won by a Kremlin-backed incumbent who resigned last month, forcing a snap election that would make challengers scramble to organize their campaigns.
While the leadership of Russia’s law-enforcement agencies, referred to as “siloviki,” favor nipping the opposition in the bud, other Putin lieutenants promote a more subtle approach to dissent, said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst with the Moscow-based Center for Political Technologies, an independent think tank.
“Siloviki believe that the opposition must be destroyed,” said Makarkin. “And people in charge of policymaking think that the radical opposition poses no immediate threat and could be allowed to take part in elections, giving them legitimacy.
“These two approaches have led to contradictory decisions made almost simultaneously, and, in the end, those who wanted to legitimize elections prevailed,” he added.
As crowds of demonstrators swirled near Manezh Square in Moscow on Thursday night, Dmitri Gudkov, a political opposition leader and member of Parliament who attended Navalny’s sentencing, wrote on Twitter:“Tomorrow morning he may be released. Manezh, this is thanks to you!”
That was later confirmed by Vadim Kobzev, Navalny’s lawyer, who called it “a clearly political decision.”
By early morning Friday, as many as 200 people had been detained in Moscow, Alexei Mayorov, a municipal security official, told Interfax. Despite tight security, protesters managed to mass at a major intersection Thursday night. At one point, the crowds blocked the main artery leading to the Kremlin gates. Police estimated the crowd at 2,000, while protesters said it was upward of 5,000.
Navalny was found guilty of heading a group that embezzled $500,000 worth of timber from the state-owned company Kirovles in 2009.
The charges against Navalny date back to when he worked as an unpaid adviser to the provincial governor in Kirov, 470 miles east of Moscow.
Information for this article was contributed by David M. Herszenhorn and Ellen Barry of The New York Times; and by Nataliya Vasilyeva, Vladimir Isachenkov and Jim Heintz of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 07/20/2013