MOSCOW, December 13 (RAPSI) – The Moscow District Simonvsky Court has ruled to recover from opposition activists Lyubov Sobol and Georgy Alburov 657,000 rubles (about $10,500) in favor of the capital’s public transport authority Mosgortrans, RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Friday.

On August 3, the court materials read, an unauthorized rally led to the public transport traffic delay causing damages in the said amount.

The claimant argued that the role of the opposition politicians in the traffic jams was confirmed by the fact that they had been earlier brought to administrative liability for failure to comply with the rules governing mass rallies by final court judgements.

The defendants objected the claim saying they were not responsible for damages inflicted by rally participants.

The court is to hear two more claims against Sobol and Alburov submitted by the Moscow Metropolitan and state-financed entity Avtomobilnye Dorogi.

Protest actions began in Moscow in mid-July after election commissions denied registration of certain opposition members as candidates for the Moscow City Duma elections reasoning that documents submitted by them contained numerous violations.

The first unauthorized rally took place hear the Moscow City Election Commission’s building on July 14 and looked like a provocation, according to law experts.

Unauthorized rallies in support of candidates seeking to become lawmakers of the Moscow State Duma but refused registration by the Election Commission were also held on July 27 and August 3 in central Moscow. Over 1,000 people were arrested for various violations as a result.