Russian investigators on Tuesday (Dec 22) raided the apartments of employees of Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia group, less than two weeks after Moscow charged the former tycoon with murder.Members of the government’s Investigative Committee searched the homes of Khodorkovsky’s spokeswoman Kulle Pispanen and employees of his opposition group Open Russia.The group, citing the Investigative Committee, said the searches were connected to an old case over the allegedly fraudulent privatisation in 1994 of a mining and fertiliser company.The 2003 case led to the criminal prosecution of one of Russia’s most powerful oligarchs and the dismemberment of his Yukos oil company which have become defining events in the presidency of Vladimir Putin.Khodorkovsky ridiculed the raids and vowed that his organisation, which he set up in an attempt to help nurture civil society and rouse Russians against the Kremlin, would press ahead with its work.
0 comments:
Post a Comment