Opposition politician Vyacheslav Maltsev reportedly suffered a heart attack on Thursday, after police sawed through his apartment door in Saratov and arrested him in front of his family.
Maltsev, who live-streamed the incident from his phone, was a State Duma candidate in Russia's parliamentary elections last year, running on the ticket of the liberal opposition party PARNAS.
The 52-year-old suffered a heart attack while police escorted him from his home to the Saratov airport, where he was supposed to board a plane for Moscow, where he'd be interrogated, according to the website Meduza. He eventually boarded the plane on a stretcher.
Officials haven't yet announced any formal charges, though Maltsev is reportedly suspected of attacking a state employee during an anti-corruption demonstration in Moscow on March 26, the news agency TASS reported.
On Thursday, police also raided the home of activist Sergei Okunev, who collaborates with Maltsev on the anti-Kremlin vlog “Artodgotovka,” according to the news agency RBC.
Artodgotovka, which often rails against President Putin and the Russian government, has at times broadcast racist, populist, and anti-Semitic content, critics say.
Police also arrested Yury Gorsky and Ivan Beletsky, two of Maltsev's associated, RIA Novosti reported. Both men co-organize the ultra-nationalist “Russky Marsh” movement, which campaigns for "Russian unity" and the "rights of the oppressed Russian nation."
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