A Moscow court yesterday sentenced a participant in a May 6 protest against President Vladimir Putin to four-and-a-half years in prison for taking part in a mass riot and using violence against the police.

Businessman Maxim Luzyanin had pleaded guilty to the charges over his role in the chaotic protest on the eve of Putin’s inauguration for a third Kremlin term, the ITAR-TASS news agency said.

He is the first person to be convicted in a wide-ranging criminal probe over the rally which has seen a total of 17 protesters charged and which the Opposition has slammed as part of a new crackdown on civil society.

Russia has since last winter seen its first major Opposition protests against Putin’s nearly 13-year hold on power sparked first by fraud-tainted parliamentary elections and then his controversial return to the presidency in May.

Critics have accused the Russian strongman of launching a mass crackdown on civil society by jailing activists and introducing tough new laws on internet censorship and libel as well as forcing foreign-funded NGOs to register as “foreign agents”. The anti-Putin protest at Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow descended into clashes between protesters and security forces with injuries on both sides.

The verdict was handed out by judge Andrei Fedin at the Zamoskovoretsky district court. Luzyanin’s lawyer Sergei Shushpanov said he would appeal.

Luzyanin is believed to be the only one of those charged to have pleaded guilty.

A total of 13 of those charged are currently held in detention and their fate has become a rallying cause for the Opposition, which is trying to keep the momentum of its protests against Putin. (AFP)