Moscow police raid home of libertarian activist Mikhail Svetov

Police officers in Moscow raided the home of Mikhail Svetov on Saturday night, April 24, searching his apartment for several hours before bringing him in for overnight questioning. The libertarian activist and “Civil Society” movement chairman said on Twitter that officers went door-to-door, asking his neighbors to testify against him in their investigation, but everyone apparently refused. 

Citing Svetov’s lawyer, the news outlet OVD-Info reported that the case is related to a felony investigation into sexual misconduct with an underage girl, filed in 2019 in response to photographs that Svetov shared online of his then-girlfriend. 

The same evening, Moscow police also arrested Sergey Boiko, a member of Russia’s unregistered Libertarian Party. Human rights activist Tatiana Usmanova tweeted Saturday night that Boiko is being charged with a repeat violation of Russia’s laws on staging public assemblies — a misdemeanor.