A Russian court has released President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced for five years in an embezzlement case, following protests over his sentencing.
More than 200 people were arrested after several thousand took to the streets of Moscow to protest the sentencing of Navalny on Thursday.
According to the Courier Mail, in a major surprise, hours after the verdict, prosecutors questioned the need to immediately jail Navalny.
Navalny was registered to run for Moscow mayor against pro-Kremlin incumbent Sergei Sobyanin in polls on September 8.
The court in Kirov ruled on Friday that keeping Navalny in custody would deprive him of his right to stand in the mayoral elections.
Navalny and his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov were immediately released in court, the report added.
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