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Police search Putin opponents’ homes before rally

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MOSCOW: Russian police and investigators searched the homes of several prominent opponents of President Vladimir Putin on Monday, one day before a protest opposition leaders hope will draw tens of thousands of people.

Russia’s main investigation agency said it planned to conduct about 10 searches in connection with a criminal probe into violence against police at a protest held in Moscow on the eve of Putin’s inauguration on May 7.

Prominent opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov were among those whose Moscow apartments were being searched, the Federal Investigative Committee said on its website.

“There’s a search going on at my home,” Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger and one of the organisers of protests sparked by allegations of fraud in a December parliamentary election won by Putin’s party, said on Twitter.

“They practically cut out the door,” he wrote. Ekho Moskvy radio said police had prevented Navalny’s lawyer from entering.

Putin won a six-year presidential term in March despite a wave of protests which drew tens of thousands of people to the streets, demonstrating significant opposition to his rule, particularly among middle-class city dwellers.

Opposition leaders plan to hold the first big protest in Moscow since his inauguration on Tuesday.

The Interfax news agency reported that at least one of the opposition leaders, Udaltsov, was summoned for questioning on Tuesday, potentially interfering with his ability to attend the protest.

Putin signed a law on Friday that drastically increased fines for violations of public order at street demonstrations in what opponents said was an effort to silence dissent.

Other members of the opposition said the raids were a sign that Putin had given up on democracy.

“Putin has stopped even imitating democracy,” Sergei Mitrokhin, a liberal opposition leader, said on Ekho Moskvy.

Dozens expressed anger over the move on the Internet, which the opposition has used to organise the mass protests that have threatened Putin’s authority, bypassing a compliant television media that is under tight state control. “Vova is crazy,” one Twitter user wrote, referring to Putin by using the common nickname for Vladimir, and others exchanged messages under the tag that translates as ‘ h ello1937’ – a reference to the deadliest year of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repression.

Interfax news agency cited Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin as saying those whose homes were searched had been summoned to appear at the committee tomorrow, potentially interfering with their plans for the protest.

Opposition leaders have permission for a march and rally in central Moscow, a test of their ability to maintain pressure on Putin through protests despite the new law increasing fines for protests at which to as much as 300,000 roubles (9,200 dollar) for participants and 1 million roubles (30,600 dollar) for organisers.

Putin won a six-year presidential term in March despite a wave of protests which drew tens of thousands of people to the streets, particularly middle-class city dwellers.

Opposition activists vowed to press ahead with plans for the protest. “These madly repressive measures are meant to frighten people,” activist Sergei Davidis said on Ekho Moskvy, adding that the protest would go ahead as planned. (Reuters)

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