Russian court frees from jail 2 teenagers in extremism case

MOSCOW – A court in the Russian capital has released two teenagers jailed on extremism charges and put them under house arrest, in a case that has sparked public outrage.

Thursday’s ruling by Dorogomilovsky District Court comes a day after hundreds of women carried soft toys across Moscow during an unauthorized “Mothers’ March,” pushing for the release of the 18-year-old Anna Pavlikova and the 19-year-old Maria Dubovik.

They were arrested in March along with eight other suspects on charges of creating an extremist group aiming to overthrow the government.

Defence lawyers charged that undercover police agents had written the group’s radical program and encouraged its members to have shooting practice, effectively fabricating the case.

The case was widely criticized as a glaring example of official abuse of a law on extremism.