A district court in Smolensk in western Russia dismissed on Tuesday a request to release from pretrial detention Taisia Osipova, an opposition activist with diabetes who is accused of drug dealing.
The defense cited Osipova’s health problems and the fact that she has a five-year-old daughter as the reason to release her, but the court ruled to keep her in detention until June 15. Her lawyers said they would appeal.
Supporters of the 27-year-old activist of the unregistered The Other Russia party say the case was fabricated in an attempt to pressure Osipova’s husband Sergei Fomchenkov, a senior official with the opposition party.
Osipova was sentenced to 10 years in prison in December, but an appeals court ordered a retrial in February, some time after outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev questioned the case and called the sentence “too harsh.” Osipova was a cause célèbre for opponents of the government who rallied in the tens of thousands in Moscow between December and March.
