Moscow court cuts jail term for protester

MOSCOW: A Moscow court on Wednesday reduced a prison term for a protester who was initially jailed for three years for using violence against police.

The Moscow City Court ruled that the sentence for Ivan Podkopayev should be cut to two years in a penal colony, a court spokeswoman told AFP. In September, the young technician was found guilty of using a pepper spray against police at an opposition protest during the summer. He had pleaded guilty.

The same court on Monday refused to release an entrepreneur who last month was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly attacking a policeman. At first Danila Beglets, a father of two and the sole breadwinner in his family, insisted he did not take part in the July rally and turned up near the site of the protest by accident.