Kasparov released after five-day imprisonment for anti-Putin protest

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Former chess champion Garry Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin's most celebrated foes, was released from a Moscow jail Thursday after serving his five-day sentence for leading a protest march. The authorities' goal in jailing him "was to send a message," Kasparov said after stepping out of the police car that delivered him to his Moscow home. Kasparov said he would continue his efforts to build opposition to Putin and predicted he would be arrested again on more serious charges. "The Putin regime is entering a new phase of confronting its own people," he said. "It is being transformed into a dictatorship."