The door to Alexeï Navalny's apartment, searched this Wednesday.

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NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP

The Russian police have stepped up the investigations and searches targeting the imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny and relatives, his team said on Wednesday, a few days before new rallies against the government.

"We do not let my lawyer come, we broke my door," shouted to the press from her window Yulia Navalnaïa, the wife of the opponent, whose Moscow apartment was the subject of a police raid. .

A search was also underway in the offices of Alexeï Navalny's organization, the Anti-Corruption Fund, Lioubov Sobol, one of his relatives, said on Twitter.

According to the director of this organization Ivan Zhdanov, a third search targeted another apartment of the opponent where his brother was staying.

According to the same source, these raids come as part of an investigation by the Ministry of the Interior for violation of "health standards" in force because of the epidemic of new coronavirus, after the demonstrations Saturday in Russia in the appeal from the opponent.

Protests, threat against the coronavirus

"It was established that the organizers and participants in the unauthorized protests created a threat of the spread of the new coronavirus," the Interior Ministry said before the searches, claiming that infected people demonstrated in Moscow.

At the same time, the telecoms gendarme Roskomnadzor announced that he was going to sanction social networks and sites Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and YouTube for having left online messages inciting, according to him, minors to demonstrate in favor of the opponent Alexeï Navalny.

Investigations in connection with Saturday's protests are increasing as supporters of Alexei Navalny, a corruption slayer and sworn enemy of the Kremlin, announced new rallies on Sunday.

Thus, the Russian Investigation Committee, in charge of priority investigations, announced on Wednesday that around twenty investigations had been opened in connection with the demonstrations, in particular for calls for disturbances, hooliganism, violence against the police or again for inciting minors to commit illegal acts.

3,900 arrests on Saturday

The Ministry of the Interior opened an investigation for blocking transport routes, especially in Vladivostok (Far East) because the demonstrators blocked traffic by demonstrating.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated last Saturday in a hundred Russian cities at the call of Mr. Navalny.

These unauthorized demonstrations resulted in nearly 3,900 arrests.

Alexeï Navalny accused the Russian secret service (FSB) of having poisoned him at the end of August with a nerve agent, on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

Charges rejected by the Kremlin.

After recovering for five months in Germany, the opponent returned to Russia on January 17 and was immediately arrested.

He is the subject of multiple legal proceedings.

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