MOSCOW, October 6 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court has upheld a 20-day-long detention of opposition politician Alexey Navalny for a repeated violation of the regulations governing organization and conduct of public events after an unauthorized rally in Nizhny Novgorod, the Moscow City Court’s press-service told RAPSI on Friday.

Earlier, Navalny has appealed his detention.

On October 2, the Simonovsky District Court of Moscow found Navalny guilty of administrative violation related to organization of public rallies and detained him for 20 days.

The politician was arrested by police when he was preparing to leave for Nizhny Novgorod, where he planned to hold a rally, unauthorized by authorities. According to prosecutors, Navalny and other politicians called for a rally in Nizhny Novgorod on September 29.  The rally was not authorized by the city’s administration despite similar rallies being recently approved by nine other Russian cities.

In 2017, Navalny was repeatedly detained for participation in rallies, notably ones that took place on March 26 and June 12.