Suspect arrested in connection with killing of Russian cartoonist in Biała Podlaska
Polish police have detained a man holding a Georgian passport, suspected of involvement in the killing of Semion Skrepieckii, a Russian cartoonist shot dead on a street in Biała Podlaska.
Suspect arrested in connection with killing of Russian cartoonist in Biała Podlaska
Three days after the death of Russian cartoonist Semion Skrepieckii, who was shot dead on a street in Biała Podlaska, Polish police detained another suspect. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced this on Thursday, 18 June on social media.
The detained man holds a Georgian passport, the head of government said on the platform X. He also added that the authorities are working to establish who commissioned the killing.
Skrepieckii, also known by his real name Robert Kuzowkow, was 44 years old. The artist published political cartoons, including provocative drawings criticising Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2021, he moved to Poland, saying he feared political persecution in his homeland.
A day before announcing the arrest, Tusk stated that all circumstances point to a "political murder". He stressed that if the crime was commissioned by Russia, the matter takes on serious international dimensions.
Immediately after the killing, police arrested two Belarusian citizens near their country's consulate in Biała Podlaska. A spokesman for police in Lublin said at the time that investigators were still searching for the perpetrator who carried out the killing.
In the past, several Russian dissidents living in exile have been victims of physical attacks or poisonings. In the United Kingdom, former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko died in 2006 after being poisoned with polonium. In 2018, former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia survived an attack with Novichok, which however killed a British citizen. Moscow has consistently denied involvement in these attacks.
Source: franceinfo
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)