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Police officers come out of Oleg Navalny's apartment: arrest for violating Corona requirements
Photo: Mstyslav Chernov / dpa
A week ago Alexei Navalny was arrested in Moscow, now the authorities are apparently taking action against the family and employees of the opposition politician.
In the afternoon, his brother Oleg Navalny was arrested, he was initially in custody for 48 hours, said Navalny's employee Ivan Zhdanov on Twitter late on Wednesday evening.
The reason given was a violation of corona hygiene requirements, wrote Nawalny's team on Telegram.
The lawyer Lyubow Sobol, a close confidante and colleague of Alexej Navalny, and an employee of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation were also arrested.
Masked uniformed men had searched the offices and private homes of the opposition politician's family and employees since the afternoon - apparently the allegation here too was hygiene violations.
The family's Moscow apartment, one of Navalny's wife Julia and that of his press spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch were searched.
Nawalny's brother had already been sentenced to a long prison term years ago.
Navalny accused the state of taking Oleg hostage in order to put him under pressure himself.
The most recent wave of searches came the day before a court was about to decide on Alexei Navalny's 30-day prison sentence.
Navalny's lawyers want to get the 44-year-old released in the Khimki City Court near Moscow on Thursday.
The Russian opposition leader was arrested at the airport on January 17 after his return to Russia.
He is said to have violated reporting requirements in previous criminal proceedings while he was recovering from a poison attack in Germany.
Navalny's imprisonment had sparked international outrage.
According to the organizers, up to 300,000 people demonstrated in Russia last weekend for his release.
The protests are supposed to continue on Sunday.
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nck / dpa / Reuters