Reports: 2 Russian opposition activists found guilty of organizing riots in Moscow in 2012

Russian opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev, in handcuffs, shows V-signs from a defendant's cage in a court room prior to a hearing in the Bolotnaya square protest trial in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, July 24, 2014. Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev are waiting for the sentence Thursday in the Moscow city court on charges of organizing mass riots and colluding to commit a crime. They both pleaded not guilty in a trial that has dragged on since October 2012, when they were detained and put under house arrest. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) (The Associated Press)

Russian opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov, holds his belongings, and waves good-bye in a court hall prior to a hearing for the Bolotnaya square protest, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, July 24, 2014. Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev are waiting for the sentence Thursday in the Moscow city court on charges of organizing mass riots and colluding to commit a crime. They both pleaded not guilty in a trial that has dragged on since October 2012, when they were detained and put under house arrest. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) (The Associated Press)

MOSCOW – Russian news agencies say two opposition activists have been convicted of organizing riots at the May 2012 protest in Moscow, a day before the re-election of President Vladimir Putin.

Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev were awaiting sentence Thursday in a Moscow court on charges of organizing mass riots and colluding to commit a crime. Both had pleaded not guilty in a trial that has dragged on since October 2012.

Since Putin's return to the presidency in 2012, when hundreds of thousands protested the vote in the streets of Moscow, the government has cracked down with a slew of laws restricting protests and curbing activity of non-governmental organizations.

Eleven other people have been convicted for participating in the same protest which ended in clashes with the police.