Law enforcement authorities in the southern Saratov region arrested Communist Party firebrand Nikolai Bondarenko on Friday, a move the politician slammed as an attempt to bar him from running in parliamentary elections next month.
Bondarenko, a former Saratov regional lawmaker who is now running for a seat in the lower-house State Duma, confirmed his arrest on his blog.
He told journalists that police are threatening to charge him for publicly displaying Nazi symbols, an offense that, if found guilty, would automatically bar him from running in the September elections.
“Ten police officers detained me at my home,” Bondarenko told news outlet Ostorozhno Novosti. “This is connected to my political activity, and it’s an attempt to pressure both the Communist Party and me, and to ‘adjust,’ so to speak, the results of the upcoming elections.”
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said he was aware of Bondarenko’s arrest and that party lawyers are “getting things sorted.”
