Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny vowed to fight and win the Moscow mayoral election after he was unexpectedly released from custody on Friday amid massive protests against his sentence of five years in prison.
He told a cheering crowd of supporters who welcomed him to Moscow from Kirov that he would fight and win the mayoral election in September, according to the BBC News.
"We are going to stand in the elections and we will win," Navalny told the crowd.
He was sentenced to five-years in prison after a conviction of embezzlement but a day after the conviction, he was freed by an appeals court. Many considered the charge as politically motivated.
"We are a huge powerful force. We have taken away the Kremlin's privilege to put people in prison never to be seen again," said the opposition leader, who was charged with embezzlement.
As soon as his sentence was announced, Moscow was highly criticized by international communities including the European Union and human rights groups.
The sentencing came a week after Sergei L Magnitsky, a lawyer investigating corruption, died in custody. The Washington government condemned the sentence and pronounced itself "deeply disappointed" at what it called a trend of suppressing dissidents in the country.
"We call on the Russian government to cease its campaign of pressure against individuals and groups seeking to expose corruption, and to ensure that the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of all of its citizens, including the freedoms of speech and assembly, are protected and respected," said Jay Carney, spokesman of the White House.
