Russian law enforcement raided homes of Open Russia employees


nsnbc : Russian law enforcement, on Thursday, raided the homes of opposition activists working for exiled ex oligarch and convict Mikhail Kodorkovsky’s Open Russia organization.

Open Elections' Timur Veleyev pinned to the ground: Screen capture Ren TV

Open Elections’ Timur Veleyev pinned to the ground: Screen capture Ren TV

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former CEO of Rusian oil giant Yukos, spent more than a decade behind bars after being stripped of his assets in what is widely perceived as a politically motivated case. That is, both Khodorkovsky and supporters as well as most opponents agree that the case was politicized.

One of the main points of contention is whether it was or wasn’t right for President Vladimir Putin to “oust oligarchs who would not play ball with the Kremlin” according to the Kremlin’s rule book or not. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was pardoned by Vladimir Putin in December 2013. He is a vocal critic of the Kremlin with a following. He is also being criticized for harming Russian interests by serving foreign interests in the USA and EU.

Law enforcement searched the homes of the parents of Open Russia chairman Alexander Solovyov, the daughter of the editor of Open Russia’s investigative center and its chief editor and system administrator. State-owned Ren TV broadcaster published footage of one of the home searches, showing Open Russia’s Open Elections project head Timur Valeyev pinned to the ground.

In late 2015 there were raids on the homes of at least seven Open Russian employees and that of Khodorkovsky’s press secretary, Kulle Pispanen, supposedly as part of an investigation into Yukos. Open Russia said the Thursday searches were also connected to that case. However, Solovyov told the Insider.ru news website that the raids could be a response to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s calls for nationwide protests on President Vladimir Putin’s birthday on Saturday. “I think the authorities themselves do not know what will happen on October 7,” he said. “They do not know what the opposition forces will do.”Late in February, police raided the home of Moscow Times columnist and human rights campaigner Zoya Svetova in what also was claimed as part of the Yukos case.

F/AK – nsnbc 05.10.2017



Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/10/05/russian-law-enforcement-raided-homes-of-open-russia-employees/

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