On 24 May 2017 a Moscow court sentenced Aleksandr Shpakov, who took part in an anti-corruption protest on 26 March 2017, to 18 months in prison after convicting him of attacking a police officer. As RFE/RL reports, Aleksandr Shpakov is the second person (after Yury Kuly who was sentenced on 18 May 2017 to 8 months in prison for allegedly assaulting a member of the National Guard at the same anti-corruption protest) to be sentenced in connection with one of the largest protests in Russia in years. At the anti-corruption protests in more than 100 Russian cities on 26 March 2017, initiated by Aleksei Navalny, police arrested more than 1,000 people in Moscow. Human rights activists are concerned that the authorities may instigate a number of criminal prosecutions along the lines of the prosecutions that followed the 2012 Bolotnaya Square demonstration.
Photo of Aleksandr Shpakov: from Dmitry Borko's Facebook page via MediazonaSources: 'Russian Protester Jailed For 18 Months Over March 26 Rally,' RFE/RL, 24 May 2017 'Legal Case of the Week: Yury Kuly,' Rights in Russia, 22 May 2017 Vera Vasilieva, 'Human rights defenders fear a "Bolotnaya Square case-2",' Rights in Russia, 28 April 2017 'Дело 26 марта. Александр Шпаков,' Mediazona, 24 May 2017 | 
