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Police confirm search at Moscow office of Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia movement

According to a source, the search began after information had come about movement’s activists designing and keeping placards, leaflets and other materials appealing for extremist activity

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. The Russian Interior Ministry has confirmed that search was carried out at the Moscow office of the online movement Open Russia, founded by former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a source from the ministry’s press service told TASS on Thursday.

The search began after information had come about movement’s activists designing and keeping placards, leaflets and other materials appealing for extremist activity, the source said.

According to the source, information materials were allegedly prepared to be distributed at a possible opposition rally on April 19, the activity falling under the article on public appeals for extremist activity.

The former head of oil giant Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Platon Lebedev were found guilty of embezzlement and tax evasion in May 2005 and sentenced to nine years in prison.

While serving their prison term, both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering in a second criminal case in December 2010 and sentenced to 14 years in prison, with account taken of the jail term they had served.

Khodorkovsky was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin and left the prison in December 2013. Lebedev was released from the jail in early 2014.