21 May 2019; DW: A senior aide to Russia's opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been detained over a rally organized by the opposition last year. In 2018, Navalny himself served two stints in jail for violating protest laws.
Police in Moscow on Tuesday arrested a key ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Leonid Volkov tweeted that he had been detained "according to Article 20.2.8 over the rally on September 9, 2018 against raising the pension age."
Article 20.2.8 allows for administrative detention for the "repeated violation of the established procedure of organizing or holding meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches or picketing."
The 38-year-old faces up to 30 days in jail.
Navalny also said on Twitter that police had "detained him with the words 'we've been waiting for you for a long time.'"
Last September, thousands of Russians took to the streets protesting the government's attempt to increase the retirement age. Authorities detained hundreds of demonstrators. Navalny also served two stints in jail for violating protest laws last year.
Navalny, a lawyer-turned-political campaigner, has organized some of the biggest protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years. He came to prominence in 2008, when his blog exposing malpractice in Russian politics and among the nation's major state-owned firms came to the public's attention.
Navalny's anti-corruption rhetoric is hugely popular among younger people who follow his online channels and blogs.
