After raiding the home of journalist and long-time human rights campaigner Zoya Svetova, police also searched the Moscow apartment of Yelena Abdullayeva, the coordinator of “Gulagu.Nyet,” a project that collects information about human rights abuses in Russia’s federal penitentiary system. Abdullayeva is also a former member of Moscow’s Public Oversight Commission. Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of Gulagu.Nyet, reported the incident on Facebook.
“This is already the second police search in a day,” Osechkin wrote, referring to the raid on the home of Zoya Svetova, who also served on Moscow’s Public Oversight Commission.
According to Eva Merkacheva, the commission’s deputy chairperson, who says she managed to speak to Abdullayeva, the police are supposedly looking for a “stolen mobile phone.” Osechkin told the news site Meduza that Abdullayeva’s son is accused of taking the phone.
Abdullayeva’s son was allegedly detained and beaten by police during an interrogation in late December. She later appealed to officials in Russia’s Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service, arguing that the theft charges are fabricated.
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