Russia on Thursday arrested and charged the popular governor of the Khabarovsk region on suspicion of ordering the murder of several businesspeople 15 years ago, sparking a furious reaction from his party.
The arrest and indictment of Khabarovsk Governor Sergei Furgal came after Russian President Vladimir Putin, who this month has been in power for two decades, oversaw a constitutional vote that allows him to extend his hold on power until 2036.
Furgal is charged with organizing the “murders and attempted murder of a number of entrepreneurs” in 2004 and 2005, said the Russian Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Furgal stood for office representing the LDPR nationalist party and his arrest sparked a furious reaction from its leader.
In televised comments in the Russian parliament, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said that the party’s legislators might resign en masse in protest.
“Let the whole world know about the mess happening in the country,” he said.
“You are beginning to use Stalin-era methods,” he said in a tirade apparently aimed at the ruling party. “If we take to the streets, the Russian Guard will not save you and the army will be on our side.”
He said that Furgal, who was elected Khabarovsk’s regional governor in 2018, had been vetted prior to the election, which had resulted in embarrassing the ruling party United Russia, which backs Putin, because Furgal secured 70 percent of the votes.
Furgal, who has nearly 240,000 followers on Instagram, was also elected a member of parliament from 2007 to 2018.
More than 30,000 people signed a petition supporting him after his arrest.
“It’s obvious that Khabarovsk is driving Moscow mad because we do not support United Russia,” supporter Yekaterina Vognerubova wrote online.
While ostensibly an opposition party, the LDPR usually backs Kremlin initiatives.
Its legislators 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 have suggested that it was a warning to opposition forces.
Two Khabarovsk lawmakers, both LDPR members, were also detained, the media reported.
The party could not immediately confirm this.
Khabarovsk had one of the highest number of opposition votes in the nationwide plebiscite, the results of which the Kremlin has called a “triumph.”
State news broadcasts showed a group of masked law enforcement officials in camouflage pulling Furgal from the backseat of a vehicle.
The governor’s office said Furgal had been detained near his home as he prepared to leave for work.
He later flew into Moscow under escort, where he would be questioned by investigators, news agencies reported.
Russia has a statute of limitation of 15 years for serious crimes, making it difficult to see how the case will proceed, RAPSI legal news agency wrote.
Also on Thursday, investigators searched the homes of several Kremlin critics who prepared to stage a rally next week.
On Tuesday, a former journalist was arrested on charges of treason.
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