MOSCOW, November 21 – RAPSI. Opposition figure Leonid Razvozzhayev, who has been charged with organizing mass riots in Moscow, has also been charged with robbery, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday.
“The charges concern an incident that took place in Angarsk in 1997,” he said.
Markin added that an Angarsk resident has complained to the law enforcement authorities that the individuals who robbed her husband in 1997 have not yet been brought to criminal liability.
Pursuant to the criminal case materials, Razvozzhayev and his alleged accomplices decided to rob a man who was trading fur products. Investigators said the armed individuals broke into his apartment, tied him up with Scotch tape, and demanded his property on December 4, 1997.
“Then, Razvozzhayev and his accomplices stole a video camera and 500 fur hats, inflicting losses amounting to 95 million pre-evaluation rubles,” the Investigative Committee reported.
Marking said the victim recognized Razvozzhayev during the investigation as one of the people who attacked, beat and threatened him in 1997. The investigation aims to establish all the circumstances surrounding the crime, as well as other information regarding possible crimes committed by Razvozzhayev, Markin said.
On October 19, the Russian Investigative Committee placed Razvozzhayev on the federal wanted list. He was charged with organizing public unrest together with Left Front movement coordinator Sergei Udaltsov and his aide Konstantin Lebedev. The case against them was initiated after the broadcast of the "Anatomy of Protest 2" documentary film on NTV broadcasting network.
The film claimed that the opposition was organizing a coup using funds from abroad and shows Udaltsov and his companions allegedly talking with Georgia's then-Parliamentary Defense and Security Committee head Givi Targamadze, who is said to be experienced in planning the "color" revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, as well as mass riots in Belarus.
Razvozzhayev is currently held in a Moscow investigative isolation ward.