In Volgograd, picketers protest against the sentence to Alexei Navalny

On July 24, nine people came out in central Volgograd to hold a picket in support of the oppositional leader Alexei Navalny.

The picket was held at the monument to Ataman Zasekin, where people held posters: "For Navalny!", "Those guilty imprison those innocent!", "Let's destroy this feudal system!", "Trial of Alexei Navalny is lynching!" The picket was organized by the regional branch of the party "People's Alliance" and the protesters included various political forces – the Ethno-Political Association (EPA) "Russians", the International Union of Anarchists and the "RPR-Parnas".

"Everyone knows that people are unjustly convicted; and many are in prison for political reasons. Protests cause waves of repressions... The today's rally is against unjust conviction of people who defend their political beliefs," Galina Shipilova, a participant of the action and an activist of the EPO "Russians", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Valery Kotelnikov, a member of the "RPR-Parnas", said that the verdict to Navalny was a "political violence." "The verdict to Navalny looks like a conviction of a merchant, who bought something for 100 roubles and sold it for 110; and then was sentenced for extracting his profit. I was sure that they'd sentence him not to 5 but to 6 years in prison, like the state prosecution had demanded," the activist of the "RPR-Parnas" has stated.