People in the queue for Alexei Navalny’s rally in Irkutsk. Photo by Evgeny Feldman from https://navalny.feldman.photo/

by Sarah Hurst

A court in Irkutsk has sentenced employee of Alexei Navalny’s campaign headquarters in the city Zakhar Sarapulov to six days in prison for helping to organise Navalny’s rally that took place on Nov. 4. Sarapulov immediately announced a hunger strike. He is the third person to receive a prison sentence in connection with the Irkutsk rally.

Sarapulov is accused of inviting people to come to Navalny’s rally on social media, despite the fact that the rally took place on the private property of a local businessman (who was one of those jailed). Irkutsk campaign volunteer Roman Khludnev has also been charged with organising an unauthorised rally, but his trial has not yet taken place.