Alexander Shbakov has been given an 18 month prison sentence for his participation in the March 26 anti-corruption demonstrations.  The sentence was handed out by judge Alexey Stekliev of the Tverskaya Court for supposedly assaulting a police officer during the demonstrations which led to over 1500 arrests across the country.

Lawyer Sergey Badamshin from Open Russia’s Human Rights team has since filed an appeal to the court to reduce the sentence which has been called by the team’s coordinator Maria Baronova “absurd and mindless cruelty.”

Shbakov attended the meeting after watching one of Alexey Navalny’s videos on Youtube which exposed the extent of corruption amongst Russian officials.  He went along primarily to look after his young daughter, a first-year university student.  Shbakov is a locksmith from Lyubertsy who raised his daughter alone while simultaneously looking after his sick mother.  He is the only breadwinner in the family and most importantly of all his is a simple, good man.

It’s clear to everyone that Shbakov should not go to prison.  The prosecutor twice asked for house arrest, and the victim even asked to let him go, but the court was not interested.

Open Russia’s Human Rights team are going to provide help and support to Shbakov’s family throughout the course of the next month.