MOSCOW, March 20 (RAPSI) – Prosecutors are to seek the punishment for Maxim Panfilov, a defendant in the Bolotnaya Square riot case, on March 27, lawyer Maria Kurakina told RAPSI on Monday.

Earlier, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has extended the detention of Panfilov until June 14, 2017.

On April 8, 2016, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow ordered the detention of Panfilov. The day before, he was charged with participation in mass riots and use of violence against a law enforcement officer. According to investigators, the accused snatched a helmet off a riot policeman’s head on May 6, 2012.

The march on Yakimanka Street and the rally on Bolotnaya Square in May 2012, both authorized by the officials, resulted in mass riots and clashes with the police. Dozens of people were injured, over 400 protesters were detained.

The riot organizers, Sergey Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev, were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Other participants received prison terms from suspended sentences to four years. Several defendants were pardoned; one is undergoing compulsory mental treatment.

The convicts’ supporters believe that the riots were provoked by police.