France’s police arrest men suspected of plot against Russian dissident

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PARIS (Reuters) -France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened a formal probe into four men arrested by police on suspicion of plotting to attack an exiled Russian opposition figure, his office said on Friday.

A prosecutor’s spokesperson declined to identify the Russian opponent allegedly targeted, though Biarritz-based Vladimir Osechkin, who is Russian, said on his Telegram account the plot was directed against him.

“Once again, a huge thank you to the French police special unit that is responsible for my physical protection and security. A huge thank you to the French counterintelligence and counterespionage services,” Osechkin wrote on the social media platform.

Osechkin runs a human rights group called Gulagu.net (‘no to the GULAG’ in Russian) that monitors and reveals abuses in Russia’s prison system.

The four men, aged 26 to 38, were arrested on Monday as part of an investigation by the domestic intelligence police DGSI, who suspect them of belonging to a terrorism organisation and planning “crimes against persons”, the prosecutor’s spokesperson said in a statement.

“They were placed under formal investigation and were set in custody in prison,” the spokesperson said.

The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s spokesman declined to detail the men’s nationalities and where they were arrested.

In November 2021, Osechkin was added to Russia’s wanted list after Gulagu.net said it had received a massive leak of documents, photos and videos proving that hundreds of people across the prison system had been tortured and raped by other inmates directed by prison officials.

Being placed under formal investigation in France does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to trial but shows judicial authorities consider there is enough to the case to further a preliminary probe.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Lucy Papachristou; editing by Richard Lough, William Maclean)