Russian Opposition Politician Gudkov Released

Dmitri Gudkov, a prominent politician who opposes President Vladimir Putin, was released on Thursday. That’s what his lawyer said.

 

Goedkov had been arrested two days ago. He would have still owed a house that he had rented for several years. Gudkov’s father said that his son had nothing to do with that house.

A court was expected to consider the terms of Gudkov’s pre-trial detention on Thursday, but that hearing has not been held. Therefore, according to the law, the politician had to be released on Thursday evening. 48 hours had passed since his arrest.

Kremlin critics accused the authorities of increasing pressure on the opposition ahead of September’s parliamentary elections. For example, former director Andrei Pivovarov of the Russian opposition group Open Russia was removed from a plane in Saint Petersburg on Monday and arrested.

The authorities suspect Pivovarov, according to his team, of collaboration with an “undesirable organization”. Open Russia, founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, already got that stamp in 2017 and recently announced that it was disbanding.