MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny was released from jail on Sunday after spending a month and a half in jail for two consecutive charges of organizing anti-Kremlin protests.
Navalny left the prison in southern Moscow at 3:20 GMT, he told reporters before leaving in a car waiting for him.
"During our 50 days in jail, we have seen new evidence that this regime is in complete decline," he said, referring to the involvement of Russian intelligence services in embarrassing cases abroad and the failure of the Soyuz rocket launch.
"If anyone thought that the arrests would scare us or stop us, obviously that would not happen," he said. "I thank all those who supported him.
The 42-year-old oppositionist and blogger has been arrested repeatedly since he organized massive anti-Kremlin protests and corruption last year.
On August 28, Navalini was sentenced to 30 days in jail for organizing a demonstration in January, during which he called for a boycott of presidential elections on March 18.
He accused the authorities of putting him in prison to prevent him from organizing a demonstration on September 9 to protest against a government plan to raise the retirement age, which coincided with local elections. Despite his presence in prison, thousands of Russians demonstrated across the country and police arrested more than 100 of them.
As soon as he was released from prison on September 24 after serving his sentence, he was again arrested and sentenced to 20 days in prison on charges of calling for demonstrations against pension reform.
In the end, the reform, which raises the retirement age in Russia, was approved by President Vladimir Putin on October 3.
