MOSCOW, June 28 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – Russian activist Ildar Dadin has filed an appeal with the Moscow Regional Court demanding to increase the amount of compensation awarded to him for unlawful prosecution, lawyer Alexey Liptser told RAPSI on Wednesday.

In late May, a court in the Moscow Region granted a lawsuit filed by Dadin in part and ordered Russia’s Finance Ministry to pay him 2.2 million rubles (about $37,000 at the current exchange rate).

Dadin, who was convicted and later acquitted of numerous violations of protest laws, demanded 5 million rubles (about $84,000) in compensation for moral damages inflicted by unlawful prosecution as well as staying in detention and under house arrest for two years.

This ruling was appealed by the defendant as well. The Finance Ministry sought to reduce the awarded sum.

Dadin was 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, 2017, 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 Russian 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 must be issued at least three times in the period of 180 days.