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AFP
Moscow
Russia on Thursday arrested the popular governor of a far eastern region on suspicion of ordering the killings of several businessmen 15 years ago, sparking a furious reaction from his party.
Sergei Furgal, the governor of the Khabarovsk region is suspected of being the “organiser of murders and the attempted murder of a number of entrepreneurs” in 2004 and 2005, the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement.
Furgal stood for office representing the LDPR nationalist party and his arrest sparked a furious reaction from its leader.
In televised comments in parliament, LDPR’s firebrand leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the party’s MPs could resign en masse in protest.
“If Furgal was allegedly mixed up in something, why did they wait 15 years?” he wrote on Twitter.
Furgal was elected Khabarovsk’s regional governor in 2018.
He secured 70 percent of the vote against the incumbent of the ruling United Russia in an embarrassing result for the party backing President Vladimir Putin.
While ostensibly an opposition party, the LDPR mainly backs Kremlin initiatives.
Its MPs include Andrei Lugovoy, Britain’s chief suspect in the polonium poisoning of former security agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Furgal’s detention comes ahead of regional elections in September and some analysts suggested it was a warning to opposition forces.
State news broadcasts showed a group of masked law enforcement officials in camouflage pulling Furgal from the backseat of an SUV in a driveway.
Furgal was detained near his home as he prepared to leave for work, the governor’s office said on his Instagram page.
He later flew into Moscow under escort and was taken for questioning by investigators, Russian news agencies reported. A court was expected to approve his detention on Thursday or Friday.
Moscow
Russia on Thursday arrested the popular governor of a far eastern region on suspicion of ordering the killings of several businessmen 15 years ago, sparking a furious reaction from his party.
Sergei Furgal, the governor of the Khabarovsk region is suspected of being the “organiser of murders and the attempted murder of a number of entrepreneurs” in 2004 and 2005, the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement.
Furgal stood for office representing the LDPR nationalist party and his arrest sparked a furious reaction from its leader.
In televised comments in parliament, LDPR’s firebrand leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the party’s MPs could resign en masse in protest.
“If Furgal was allegedly mixed up in something, why did they wait 15 years?” he wrote on Twitter.
Furgal was elected Khabarovsk’s regional governor in 2018.
He secured 70 percent of the vote against the incumbent of the ruling United Russia in an embarrassing result for the party backing President Vladimir Putin.
While ostensibly an opposition party, the LDPR mainly backs Kremlin initiatives.
Its MPs include Andrei Lugovoy, Britain’s chief suspect in the polonium poisoning of former security agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Furgal’s detention comes ahead of regional elections in September and some analysts suggested it was a warning to opposition forces.
State news broadcasts showed a group of masked law enforcement officials in camouflage pulling Furgal from the backseat of an SUV in a driveway.
Furgal was detained near his home as he prepared to leave for work, the governor’s office said on his Instagram page.
He later flew into Moscow under escort and was taken for questioning by investigators, Russian news agencies reported. A court was expected to approve his detention on Thursday or Friday.
