France arrests four men suspected of plotting the assassination of a Russian dissident

Russian exiled dissident Vladimir Osechkin poses during a photo session, Paris, September 20, 2022. JOEL SAGET / AFP

France has arrested four people in a probe into a suspected plot against a Russian dissident, anti-terror prosecutors said on Thursday, October 16.

Vladimir Osechkin is a Russian refugee living in France who leads the Gulagu.net non-governmental organization that specializes in uncovering abuses in Russian prisons; Le Parisien newspaper reported earlier that Osechkin had been the target of an assassination plot.

The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) did not mention him by name but said it had "opened an investigation on the charge of taking part in a terrorist association with a view to preparing one or more crimes against persons."

Four men aged 26 to 38 had been arrested on Monday, the PNAT said. Le Parisien said they were French nationals or from Dagestan in Russia's northern Caucasus region. The PNAT added that it had opened an initial probe into the alleged plot on September 19 and asked French domestic intelligence to look into it.