MOSCOW, April 21 (RAPSI) – Russian activist Ildar Dadin, who was convicted and later acquitted of numerous violations of protest laws, has lodged five million rubles ($89,200) lawsuit against Russian Finance Ministry for unlawful prosecution, RAPSI learned on Friday from lawyer Alexey Liptser.

The lawsuit was filed with the Zheleznodorozhny City Court of the Moscow Region. Dadin is seeking compensation for moral damages inflicted by unlawful prosecution as well as staying in detention and under house arrest for two years.

Dadin was convicted and sentenced on December 7, 2015. Initially he received a 3-year prison term. The Moscow City Court later reduced the sentence to 2.5 years. He was acquitted on February 22 when the Supreme Court’s Presidium overturned his 2.5-year prison sentence and ruled to release him. The court held that criminal proceedings against Dadin should be dismissed because of the absence of elements of a crime in his actions.

The Supreme Court explained that the article of the Criminal Code prohibiting violations of protest laws excludes possibility of criminal prosecution if at the time of crime there were no active court rulings regarding administrative liability of a defendant. These rulings have to be issued at least three times in the period of 180 days.

Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, said on Twitter that he welcomes the ruling of Russia's Supreme Court.