A Russian court on Wednesday ordered that Kremlin critic Andrei Pivovarov be held in pre-trial detention for two months, his allies said from the courtroom.

“Andrei Pivovarov has been detained for two months,” allies wrote on his Facebook account from the courtroom, describing the ruling as a “pretext” to bar the activist from running in upcoming parliamentary elections.

Pivovarov, the former executive director of Open Russia, a just disbanded pro-democracy group, was pulled off his Warsaw-bound flight on Monday. 

The 39-year-old faces up to six years in prison for his involvement in an “undesirable” organization.– AFP