Rita Flores, a member of Pussy Riot, has had her house searched, says Dmitry Zakhvatov, a lawyer.
“The law enforcers have confiscated all of her devices and called her in for interrogation as a witness,” he added.
The search was part of the criminal investigation against Mediazona publisher Pyotr Verzilov on the account of “spreading fake news about the Russian army”. It was revealed on 2 November that Verzilov had been charged with this for his posts about the murder of civilians in Ukraine’s Bucha.
The house of Verzilov’s mother was searched on 13 December. She was also called in for an interrogation. There was no clarification as to in relation to which case the search and interrogation are being conducted.
Verzilov left Russia in 2020 after his and his relatives’ places had been searched. Back then, a criminal case under the article on “Failure to notify about possession of foreign citizenship” was initiated against Verzilov. He was put on the wanted list.
According to the investigation, Verzilov received Canada’s citizenship in December 2014 and failed to notify the Russian authorities. He also failed to do so the following five years, according to the Investigative Committee. Mediazona previously explained that Verzilov’s father had lived in Canada, while Pyotr himself had gone to school there, after which he received the citizenship.
Verzilov, as well as Mediazona and its editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov were included on the “media — foreign agents” list compiled by Russia’s Justice Ministry in September 2021.
