MOSCOW, October 21 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Interior Ministry has diminished the amounts of its claims against organizers of unauthorized rallies, among them Alexey Navalny, Ilya Yashin, Lyubov Sobol, and Georogy Alburov, by 8 million rubles ($126,000), a RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom.

According to the court, the changes in the Ministry’s claim are to result in additional time given to defendants for preparation to the hearings, which are set for November 5.

The amount the Interior Ministry now claims makes about 9.7 million rubles (slightly over $152,000 at the current exchange rate); it says the sum is its expenditures for security measures stepped up during the unauthorized rallies in Moscow this summer.

This figure is twice below the original amount of the claims; the plaintiff has provided no reasons for the move.

Earlier, a number of businesses and organizations have turned to courts seeking damages allegedly caused by the organizers of the rallies, some of them were granted compensations. Thus, Moscow public transportation enterprise was given 1.2 million rubles (almost $20,000) as it claimed disruptions of traffic, yet another claimant received about 3,5 million rubles ($55,000) for ruined grassplots.

Also, a 5-million-ruble (almost $80,000) claim submitted by the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office is to be heard soon.