National And World News

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) ― A Moscow court convicted former chess champion Garry Kasparov and sentenced him to five days in jail Saturday for leading an opposition protest.

Kasparov was among dozens detained after riot police clashed with Kremlin opponents following a protest rally that drew several thousand demonstrators.

Kasparov was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant confirmed.

"What you've heard is all lies," Kasparov said after the sentence was read. "The testimony is contradictory. There was not a single word of truth."

Two riot police testified in court that they had been given direct orders before the rally to arrest Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin's harshest critics. One of the policemen acknowledged that the two reports he had filed were contradictory.

Kasparov was charged with organizing an unsanctioned procession "of at least 1,500 people directed against President Vladimir Putin," of chanting anti-government slogans and of resisting arrest.

Police also detained Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party, who has been Kasparov's closest partner in a broad opposition coalition.

Riot police surrounded the rally on Academician Sakharov Prospect, a street not far from the centre of Moscow.

They moved in after the rally had ended and about 150 of the protesters, mainly Limonov's young activists, began to march toward the Central Elections Commission.

Police pushed protesters into three police buses.

Before Kasparov was surrounded by police, he estimated that dozens had been detained.

Kasparov had not joined the young protesters who had broken away from the crowd.

He was detained after walking over to see what had happened to them.

Prior to being detained, Kasparov told AP Television "it is very clear now for many Russians that what we see today is a soft version of the Soviet Union."

Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin's harshest critics, and other opposition politicians have come under growing pressure before Dec. 2 parliamentary elections.

Determined to see Putin's party win an overwhelming victory in the elections, the Kremlin has shown little tolerance for any parties or politicians that challenge its rule.

Kasparov's coalition, which has welcomed nationalist leftists as well as democrats and Soviet-era dissidents, has little public support.

Its ranks have expanded in recent weeks, though, as more mainstream politicians have been squeezed out of the political process

Boris Nemtsov, candidate for the State Duma, Union of the Right Forces party accused Putin of allowing Russia to become corrupt.

"In the years of his power Russia takes 142nd place in the world on rank of corruption. We are now together with Zimbabwe, Sierra-Leone and Niger. Can you imagine it? What a good guy! Why should we support him?" Nemtsov asked.

Police have violently broken up several so-called Dissenters Marches in the past year, beating demonstrators and bystanders with truncheons and dragging many off to police stations.

The city gave the organizers permission to hold the rally but forbid them to march to the Central Elections Commission.

The protest was joined by several prominent politicians who had distanced themselves from Kasparov's opposition coalition in the past.

"The feeling of disgust and protest has made us come here," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, a veteran independent parliament deputy who has been denied an opportunity to run for re-election under new election rules.

Also Saturday, police said three Moscow television journalists and a human rights activist heading to cover an opposition rally in the southern republic of Ingushetia were attacked by armed, masked men.

Five men in masks and camouflage burst into their hotel overnight, beat them and abandoned them in a field, said the activist, Oleg Orlov.

The four then made their way to a local police station, said Orlov, a member of the respected human rights group Memorial.

All four remained in police custody Saturday morning.

REN TV anchor Marianna Maximovskaya was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying police were refusing to free the journalists and activist, insisting that they provide testimony against their attackers.

The rally in Nazran, the main city in Ingushetia, was dispersed by riot police, and at least three people were detained.

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