Russia arrests over 4,000 at wide protests backing opposition leader Alexei Navalny
Moscow, Jan 31: Chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin, tens of thousands took to the streets Sunday across Russia to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, keeping up nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin. More than 4,000 people were detained by police, according to a monitoring group, and some were beaten.
Russian authorities mounted a massive effort to stem the tide of demonstrations after tens of thousands rallied across the country last weekend in the largest, most widespread show of discontent that Russia has seen in years. Yet, despite threats of jail terms, warnings to social media groups and tight police cordons, the protests again engulfed cities across Russia's 11 time zones on Sunday.
The 44-year-old Navalny, an anti-corruption investigator who is Putin's best-known critic, was arrested on Jan.17 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusations. He was arrested for allegedly violating his parole conditions by not reporting for meetings with law enforcement when he was recuperating in Germany.
The United States urged Russia to release Navalny and criticized the crackdown on protests.
The U.S. condemns the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists by Russian authorities for a second week straight, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected Blinken's call as a crude interference in Russia's internal affairs" and accused Washington of trying to destabilize the situation in the country by backing the protests.
On Sunday, police detained more than 4,100 people at protests in cities nationwide, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests. Those arrests followed some 4,000 detentions at demonstrations on Jan. 23 in more than 100 Russian cities.
In Moscow, authorities introduced unprecedented security measures in the city center, closing subway stations near the Kremlin, cutting bus traffic and ordering restaurants and stores to stay closed.
Navalny's team initially called for Sunday's protest to be held on Moscow's Lubyanka Square, home to the main headquarters of the Federal Security Service, which Navalny claims was responsible for his poisoning. Facing police cordons around the square, the protest then shifted to other central squares and streets.
Police were randomly picking up people and putting them into police buses, but thousands of protesters marched across the city center for hours, chanting Putin, resign! and Putin, thief!" a reference to an opulent Black Sea estate reportedly built for the Russian leader that was featured in a widely popular video released by Navalny's team.
I'm not afraid, because we are the majority," said Leonid Martynov, who took part in the protest. We mustn't be scared by clubs because the truth is on our side."
At one point, crowds of demonstrators walked toward the Matrosskaya Tishina prison where Navalny is being held. They were met by phalanxes of riot police who pushed the march back and chased protesters through courtyards, detaining scores and beating some with clubs. Still, demonstrators continued to march around the Russian capital, zigzagging around police cordons.
More than 1,200 people were detained in Moscow, including Navalny's wife, Yulia. If we keep silent, they will come after any of us tomorrow, she said on Instagram before turning out to protest.
Several thousand people marched across Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, chanting Down with the czar! and occasional scuffles erupted as some demonstrators pushed back police who tried to make detentions. Nearly 900 were arrested.
Some of the biggest rallies were held in Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk in eastern Siberia and Yekaterinburg in the Urals.
I do not want my grandchildren to live in such a country," said 55-year-old Vyacheslav Vorobyov, who turned out for a rally in Yekaterinburg. "I want them to live in a free country.
As part of a multipronged effort by authorities to block the protests, courts have jailed Navalny's associates and activists across the country over the past week. His brother Oleg, top aide Lyubov Sobol and three other people were put Friday under a two-month house arrest on charges of allegedly violating coronavirus restrictions during last weekend's protests.
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Her willingness, consent all that matters: HC on Punjab woman's plea for abortion
Chandigarh (PTI): It is the willingness and consent of a married woman that is all that matters, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed, while allowing a petitioner to undergo abortion without her husband's consent.
The direction came on a plea moved by the 21-year-old petitioner from Punjab, seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy in its second trimester.
The petitioner had submitted that she got married on May 2, 2025 and had a turbulent relationship with her husband.
In the previous hearing, the court had issued directions to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) to constitute a medical board to examine the petitioner.
According to the medical report, the woman was medically fit to undergo MTP (medical termination of pregnancy).
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According to the December 23 report, there is a single live intra-uterine foetus with a gestational age of 16 weeks and a day, with no congenital malformation.
"Patient has symptoms of depression and anxiety for the last six months, (and) has been undergoing treatment with minimal improvement. She is severely distressed about her pregnancy amidst divorce proceedings. It is recommended that she continues to undergo her psychiatric treatment and counselling. She is psychologically fit to consent," the report of the medical board said.
A bench of justice Suvir Sehgal said it is evident from the report that according to experts, the petitioner is in a fit medical condition for the termination of her pregnancy.
The sole question that requires to be considered is whether her estranged husband's consent is required before such termination, the court observed.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, does not provide for an express or implied consent of the husband, it pointed out.
"A married lady is the best judge to evaluate as to whether she intends to continue with pregnancy or get it aborted. Her willingness and consent is all that matters," the court noted.
It said according to the medical report, the gestation period of a foetus is less than 20 weeks and falls within the maximum period prescribed under the Act.
"This court, therefore, does not find any obstacle in permitting the petitioner to undergo abortion. In view of the above, it is directed that petitioner is eligible to get the pregnancy terminated from respondent No.2 -- PGIMER -- or any other authorised hospital," the order passed on December 24 said.
"Let the petitioner, within the next one week, get the medical termination of pregnancy from PGIMER, Chandigarh, or any other authorised hospital, which must take due care and precaution while conducting the procedure," the court added while disposing of the plea.
