The leader of Irkutsk’s Yabloko party, who tried to organise a protest against restrictions, has been sentenced to 12 days in jail.

A court in the city of Shelekhov has found Grigory Gribenko, head of the regional Yabloko branch, guilty of disobeying the police (part 1, article 19.3 of the Administrative Code) and sentenced him to 12 days in jail. This was reported by activist Pavel Kharitonenko in his Telegram channel.

Yesterday afternoon Gribenko’s home was searched on the pretext of looking for drugs. After the search, the politician was taken to the police station. Police officers accused Gribenko of disobeying their orders.

According to a post from human rights defender Svyatoslav Khromenkov, the alleged disobedience was Gribenko’s refusal to let security forces into his flat. Gribenko says that at first he did not recognise the masked, plainclothes people as police officers, but once he realised they were law enforcement, he opened the door to them and showed his passport.

The police had already detained Gribenko on 10 April. That time, he was forced to undergo a medical examination. Staff at the city drug treatment centre claimed that traces of marijuana were found in his system. On the same day, tests done at a private clinic showed nothing in Gribenko’s system.

Previously, the politician had tried to organise a protest in Irkutsk, a major city in Siberia, against internet restrictions, and after the mayor’s refusals he took the city government to court.