AP/UNB, July 18 – Tens of thousands of people in the Russian Far East city of Khabarovsk demonstrated on the streets on Saturday, protesting the arrest of the region’s governor on charges of involvement in multiple murders. Local media estimated that around 15,000 to 50,000 people participated in the rally in the city 6100 kilometres (3800 miles) east of Moscow.
Sergei Furgal, the popular Khabarovsk region governor, was arrested two weeks ago and flown to Moscow where he was put in jail for two months. Russia’s Investigative Committee says he is suspected of involvement in several murders of businessmen in 2004 and 2005 before his political career began.
Furgal has denied the charges, which relate to his time as a businessman with interests ranging from imports of consumer goods to timber and metals.
Last Saturday, crowd of up to 35,000 people reportedly rallied in the city centre. The protests are the largest ever to have taken place in Khabarovsk, a city of 590,000.
Furgal, a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was elected governor in 2018.
