Moscow court cuts jail term for protester

• Moscow court on Wednesday reduced a prison term for a protester who was initially jailed for three years.
• The same court on Monday refused to release an entrepreneur who last month.
• The Moscow City Court threw out his appeal despite calls from supporters to release him.

MOSCOW: A Moscow court on Wednesday reduced a prison term for a protester who was initially jailed for three years for using violence against police.

The Moscow City Court ruled that the sentence for Ivan Podkopayev should be cut to two years in a penal colony, a court spokeswoman told AFP.

In September, the young technician was found guilty of using a pepper spray against police at an opposition protest during the summer. He had pleaded guilty.

The same court on Monday refused to release an entrepreneur who last month was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly attacking a policeman.

At first Danila Beglets, a father of two and the sole breadwinner in his family, insisted he did not take part in the July rally and turned up near the site of the protest by accident.

In an apparent bid for a reduced sentence, he later admitted using violence against police. The Moscow City Court threw out his appeal despite calls from supporters to release him.

Over the summer, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Moscow after authorities refused to allow prominent opposition candidates to stand for the city parliament in September 8 elections.

Around 60,000 people rallied in Moscow at the peak of the demonstrations in August but the new wave of protests has since lost momentum.

Authorities unleashed a crackdown on the anti-government protests and sentenced several people to jail terms of between two and five years.

Under pressure from supporters the Moscow City Court last month released one of the convicted people, actor Pavel Ustinov, who had been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for violence against police.

The court released the actor from jail, giving him instead a one-year suspended sentence.

Last Friday, the Moscow City Court also threw out an appeal from blogger Vladislav Sinitsa who was sentenced to five years in prison for a controversial tweet.