AOL/AP: Kasparov Jailed After Anti-Putin Protest
Russian authorities arrested former world chess champion Garry Kasparov on
Saturday and sentenced him to five days in prison after he helped lead a protest
against President Vladimir Putin that ended in clashes with police. Kasparov,
one of President Vladimir Putin's harshest critics, was charged with organizing
an unsanctioned procession of at least 1,500 people against Putin, chanting
anti-government slogans and resisting arrest, court documents said. His assistant
said he was beaten during the demonstration.

At the hastily organized trial, two police testified that they had been ordered
before the rally to arrest Kasparov. "What you read is the fruit of a fantasy
dictated on orders from above," Kasparov told the court. The opposition
activist was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant Marina Litvinovich
said in a telephone interview from outside the police station where Kasparov
was held. Full
report with slideshow...