Russian Court Frees Kasparov

Chess grandmaster had been arrested for participating in an unauthorized rally supporting Pussy Riot.

A Russian court unexpectedly acquitted opposition leader and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov on Friday of participating in an unauthorized rally.

Kasparov, an anti-Vladimir Putin activist and former world chess champion, was detained Aug. 17, as he was attending a rally in support of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot outside the Moscow court where three of its members were being sentenced to two years in prison. He was violently rounded up by several riot policemen and thrown into a police van along with dozens of other protesters.