Report: Pussy Riot member held in Russia extremism probe

FILE - In this Sunday, July 15, 2018 file photo, Pyotr Verzilov invading the pitch, runs away as a steward tries to stop him during the France and Croatia 2018 World Cup final match in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Russian state news agency Tass says a prominent member of the protest group Pussy Riot has been detained by the police anti-extremism division. The Mediazona website reported that Pyotr Verzilov was seized at his apartment by unidentified men who broke down the door on Sunday, June 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File) (Thanassis Stavrakis, Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

MOSCOW – Russian state news agency Tass says a prominent member of the protest group Pussy Riot has been detained by the police anti-extremism division.

The Mediazona website reported that Pyotr Verzilov was seized at his apartment by unidentified men who broke down the door on Sunday morning.

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Tass cited a police source as saying Verzilov was detained as part of an investigation but did not report further details.

Verzilov publishes Mediazona. He attracted worldwide attention in 2018 when he and three other Pussy Riot activists entered the field of the World Cup final in Moscow to protest police brutality, an action for which they served 15 days in jail.

Two months later, he became severely ill from what group members suspected was poisoning and was flown to Germany for treatment.


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