MOSCOW, July 26 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Moscow City Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling to fine Russian activist Ildar Dadin 20,000 rubles ($330) for holding an unauthorized one-person picket near the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) building, his lawyer Nikolay Zboroshenko told RAPSI on Wednesday.

The court thus found Dadin guilty of violating the picketing rules.

On July 5, Dadin was arrested near the FSB building during his one-man protest in support of opposition activist Yury Gorsky, who had been earlier arrested on suspicion of calls to extremism, Zboroshenko told RAPSI earlier.

According to the administrative protocol, Dadin’s actions contravene the Russian President’s decree of May 9, 2017, on tightened security during the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup stipulating that only authorized public actions are permitted.

Dadin was the first person convicted of numerous violations of protest laws but acquitted later.

He was sentenced on December 7, 2015. Initially he received a 3-year prison term, which was later reduced 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.

In late May, a court in the Moscow Region ordered Russia’s Finance Ministry to pay the activist 2.2 million rubles (about $36,700 at the current exchange rate) for unlawful prosecution. Dadin, who had demanded 5 million rubles (about $83,500) in compensation, has appealed the ruling.