“The riot police officers massed in force on Monday morning outside a courthouse here, well before the judges and the defendants had even arrived, to confront the demonstrators who came to criticize what the authorities have done to political dissent in today’s Russia. The officers erected barriers half a block away and, with blue-and-white police buses parked nearby, formed phalanxes of shields and body armor.

They faced no violence, no rock- or bottle-throwing, but rather several hundred supporters who gathered to show solidarity with seven men and a woman convicted of mass rioting and assaults on police officers during a rally that turned violent the day before President Vladimir Putin was inaugurated in May 2012. Though the charges and trial began long before the extraordinary overthrow of Ukraine’s president over the weekend, the culmination of the case on Monday occurred against the backdrop of the events in Kiev. And it underscored why even Mr. Putin’s fiercest critics doubt that Russia will experience the kind of government-shaking protests that toppled an elected autocrat in Ukraine.

Three days after the defendants were found guilty following a prosecution that has been widely denounced as a politically motivated orchestration by the Kremlin, the judge sentenced seven of the eight to terms of two and a half to four years in prison. The eighth, Aleksandra Naumova, received three years and three months, but the judge suspended her sentence, effectively freeing her on probation. Lawyers for the defendants denounced the sentences, as they had the verdicts and the conduct of the authorities from the arrests through the trials, saying the evidence had been inconclusive or absent.

Several hundred protesters had gathered outside the police cordon around the courthouse, urged there by political activists and opposition parties. The protest was peaceful, and the slogans chanted there echoed those heard in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities for months. The protesters chanted “Berkut” at the police, a reference to Ukraine’s special police units that were blamed for the violent crackdown last week that left scores dead. The police officers in Moscow made clear that they would not allow the protest to gather momentum”. – Steven Lee Myers and Patrick Reevell via The New York Times

Punk protest band p*ssy Riot member Maria Alyokhina is detained by police at a protest in central Moscow February 24, 2014. Russian riot police detained over a hundred protesters, including two members of p*ssy Riot, on Monday at a Moscow courthouse where seven opponents of President Vladimir Putin were jailed from two and a half to four years over a demonstration that turned violent. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Russian police officers detain member of the p*ssy Riot punk group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, center, as the other member Maria Alekhina looks on from right outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. A Moscow judge on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, convicted eight anti-government protesters of rioting during a 2012 protest against Vladimir Putin, following a trial seen as part of the Kremlin's efforts to stifle dissent. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain a woman, an opposition activist outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014. A court on Monday handed down prison sentences of up to four years for seven people who took part in a 2012 protest against Vladimir Putin. An eighth defendant received a suspended sentence. Hundreds of their supporters gathered outside the courthouse to condemn the trial and the Kremlin's crackdown on opposition. Police detained about 600 of them, accusing them of violating public order. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Member of the p*ssy Riot punk group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, center, speaks to a police officer outside Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during the rally at Bolotnaya Square. A Moscow judge on Friday, February 21, 2014, convicted eight anti-government protesters of rioting during a 2012 protest against Vladimir Putin, following a trial seen as part of the Kremlin's efforts to stifle dissent. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain an opposition activist outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain members of the p*ssy Riot punk group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, center right, and Maria Alekhina, center left, outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain an opposition activist outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain an opposition activist outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officer detains an opposition activist in a mask depicting President Vladimir Putin and holding a poster, which reads “Line Sentences to All” outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain opposition activists outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during a rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Russian police officers detain an opposition activist outside a court room in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Member of the p*ssy Riot punk group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova stands outside Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Monday, February 24, 2014, where hearings started against opposition activists detained on May 6, 2012 during the rally at Bolotnaya Square. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)