FBK Director Says Brother Of Opposition Figure Navalny Detained For 48 Hours

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2021) Oleg Navalny, the brother of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, has been detained for 48 hours, director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK, labeled as a foreign agent by the Russian Ministry of Justice) Ivan Zhdanov said.

On Wednesday, Zhdanov that law enforcement officers were conducting searches in the apartments of Alexey Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, as well as press secretary Kira Yarmysh and several other FBK-linked people. According to FBK lawyer Lyubov Sobol, the searches were also conducted in the office of the "Navalny LIVE" channel.

"Oleg Navalny has just been detained in the Central Investigation Department of the Interior Ministry in line with the 48th Article [of the Criminal Procedure Code] for 48 hours. This means that he is a suspect now," Zhdanov wrote on late Wednesday.

Specific charges remain unknown. The Russian law enforcement bodies have not commented on the issue yet.

Alexey Navalny, 44, was arrested on January 17 shortly after flying back from Germany where he was treated for a suspected poisoning with a nerve agent. Following the arrest, his supporters called for nationwide rallies that took place on Saturday.

The Russian law enforcement bodies say that the opposition figure has been arrested for violating probation terms on an earlier embezzlement conviction and the Saturday rallies have not been authorized.

Many Western countries have issued statements calling for Navalny's release whereas the Russian Foreign Ministry advised them to focus on their own domestic issues.