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police inside France France’s national anti-terrorism prosecution office said four people suspected of a plot to target Vladimir Osekin, an exiled Russian rights activist who exposed abuses in Russian prisons, have been detained.
Directorate General of Internal Security, known as France’s counter-espionage and counter-terrorism intelligence service French The Anti-Terrorism Prosecution Office said on Thursday evening that the initial DGSI is leading the investigation.
It said four people were detained on Monday, but gave no details about their nationality, any possible motive for allegedly targeting Osekin or whether they were suspected of being linked to foreign spy services.
Osechkin founded Gulgu.net, a rights group for prisoners in the notorious Russian carceral system. Osekin had long suspected that even in exile, he might be targeted for possible assassination because of his work. BiarritzBeach resort town in south-west France atlantic The beach where he lives.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Osekin said there have been repeated threats on his life since 2022, most recently in February this year.
He believes he remains at risk, although French police have made arrests in the wake of those death threats, saying he and his family are often moved to safe houses as new threats emerge.
“Those arrested are just a part of the whole picture, they are part of a bigger team,” he said.
The DGSI is one of the French agencies investigating what officials say is a sustained effort by Russia and Russian-directed proxies to destabilize France with cyberattacks and other acts — part of a broader alleged campaign of Russian subversion and hybrid warfare targeting European allies. ukraine,
Osekin sought political asylum in France after fleeing Russia due to pressure from authorities regarding his activism in prison. His group regularly publishes videos and accounts of alleged torture and corruption in Russian prisons, and he was among the first to reveal that Russia’s military was recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
Gulagu.net also helped bring Russian fugitive paratrooper Pavel Filatiev to France in 2022. Filatiev served in the Ukraine War before being injured, and later published what he witnessed online, accusing the Russian military leadership of betraying its own troops due to incompetence and corruption.