Russia on Friday charged protest leader Sergei Udaltsov with plotting mass riots in a controversial probe that has seen the detention of another activist who claims to have been tortured into confessing.
Udaltsov was charged after obeying a summons to the Investigative Committee for questioning over an alleged plot to hold mass riots with international funding to topple President Vladimir Putin.
Two men have already been charged in the probe, including Leonid Razvozzhayev, an aide to an opposition parliamentary lawmaker, who has retracted a confession that he said he made under pressure after being kidnapped by Russian security agents in Ukraine.
Udaltsov, 35, the shaven-headed leader of the radical Left Front movement, has been one of the most prominent organisers and speakers of mass protests against Putin and has been detained numerous times for public order offences.
He walked into the Investigative Committee’s office for questioning, wearing his trademark jeans and black bomber jacket and holding up his hands in a gesture acknowledging his supporters.
“This is a case of torture, a disgraceful case,” he told journalists.