A judge at a Moscow court has dismissed claims that Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was denied a chair during a court hearing earlier this month.
Nemtsov was arrested after an anti-Kremlin rally on Moscow's Triumfalnaya Square on New Year's Eve and sentenced to 15 days in jail for "disobeying police instructions."
The former deputy prime minister turned opposition leader claimed he stood all day long on January 2 during his hearing in Moscow's Tverskoy Court because Judge Olga Borovkova refused to give him a chair.
"The judge suggested that Nemtsov take a chair but he ignored the offer and chose to stand for the court hearing," a court spokesman said. "This was his own decision. The court has no right to force defendants to sit on chairs."
Nemtsov was arrested with around 70 others during an unsanctioned rally that broke out after the regular, sanctioned, March of Dissent meeting on December 31.
The March of Dissent rallies take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the last day of every month with 31 days, in honor of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right to free assembly.
MOSCOW, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
