Police have forced their way into the offices of the Justice human rights group in Moscow and are conducting a search, the Interfax news agency reports, citing a lawyer for the organization.

“Around 20 people have broken into the office,” said Stalina Gurevich, the organization’s attorney.  “The officers have said that they’re from the Main Investigation’s Directorate.”

“6 people are now being illegally held in the office,” she continued.  “They are not releasing them from the building.”

Gurevich said the officers did not show any documents or a search warrant, describing the raid as unlawful.  “They say they came to search a different organization, which rents the building along with us.  At the same time, they assert that they came to the address of Baumanskaya street, house 6, while the address of our office is Baumanskaya street, house 6, building 2.”

“We have been leading a firm battle ...

Olga Kurnosova, the leader of the St. Petersburg branch of Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front party, has been charged for a second time on allegations of smuggling.

As Kurnosova told the Kasparov.ru online newspaper, the charges stem from an incident on October 5, 2008, when the opposition activist was returning by train from Astrakhan to St. Petersburg.  Kurnosova, who was on her way home from a regional conference for the political opposition, was apprehended and searched on the train.  Police found a can of black caviar in her bags, and decided on the spot that the caviar had been poached illegally, and was therefore contraband.  Kurnosova had received the can as a gift from members of the United Civil Front in Astrakhan.  The activist was then held in a temporary detention facility for nearly two days, before being released on a promise not ...