Pavel Ustinov, an actor whose conviction this week on charges related to anti-Kremlin protests sparked widespread outrage, was granted an appeal in the latest sign that the authorities are sometimes willing to reverse themselves in the face of public pressure.
Many of Russia’s leading theater and movie personalities rallied around Ustinov, who received a 3 1/2-year sentence on Monday for injuring a national guard officer after the court refused to consider the video evidence that may have exonerated him. The tide appeared to shift in Ustinov’s favor when Kremlin loyalists such as state-TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov took up his cause and Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who heads the Interior Ministry’s Public Council, joined his defense team.
