Russian left-wing activist Sergei Udaltsov went on trial Monday on charges of validating terrorism online, a charge that brings a sentence of up to seven years in prison.The trial has started.
The indictment has been announced.
Sergei pleaded innocent, state news firm RIA Novosti estimated Udaltsovs lawyer, Dmitry Agranovsky, as saying.The specific accusations stay classified, but Udaltsov formerly stated he is accused of revealing support online for Marxist activists charged with forming a terrorist group in the city of Ufa.Udaltsov, 48, is being attempted at Moscows Second Western District Military Court.
He has been kept in pre-trial detention because January 2024.
A popular opposition figure during the 20112012 anti-Kremlin demonstrations, Udaltsov was imprisoned in 2014 for arranging what authorities called mass riots and served a three-year sentence.Despite his history as a Putin critic, Udaltsov has openly backed Russias invasion of Ukraine, stating he opposes Putin from a patriotic standpoint.A vocal admirer of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Udaltsov has long required the restoration of the Soviet Union.In a 2012 interview with independent broadcaster television Rain, he said that Stalin wasnt a criminal and has actually been repeatedly detained and fined for staging memorial occasions on Stalins birthday.