Thousands of people took part in a protest rally in downtown Moscow on Sunday, February 2, urging the authorities to drop charges against a group of activists facing lengthy jail terms over a 2012 mass anti-Kremlin march.

      The Moscow authorities gave their approval to the Sunday demonstration, warning, however, that its slogans should not refer to the Winter Olympics in Sochi and Ukraine’s political crisis.

      The march took place at the line of avenues between Pushkinskaya and Turgenevskaya squares. According to some opposition leaders, including Sergey Udaltsov, between 12,000 and 15,000 participated in the march, while the police reports said that some 2,000 people took to the capital’s boulevards.

      Last week, a Moscow court held the final deliberations in the so-called Bolotnaya case over the rally that took place on May 6, 2012, on the eve of Putin’s inauguration to his third presidential term. The sanctioned rally ended with protesters clashing with police on the downtown Bolotnaya Square where over 500 people were detained.

      More than 20 activists were accused of their roles in the “mass riots” that day. At least eight people face jail terms ranging between five and six years in connections with the case. Charges against eight others have been dropped recently under the presidential amnesty marking the 20th anniversary of the Constitution.

      Three others have been convicted, and one was ordered to be treated at a psychiatric hospital. Opposition movement continue to support their charged comrades and hold rallies witl public appeals to the officials to release the jailed suspects and drop the whole case.