A drugs case has been opened against activist Dmitry Morozov. He had been campaigning for a rally following the election results.

A criminal drugs case has been opened against Dmitry Morozov, an activist from Izhevsk, reports RusNews. According to his girlfriend Darya Bagina, law enforcement claimed that substances were found during a search of his wardrobe in his room. Bagina said that Morozov faces up to ten years in prison, but she did not specify the exact article of the Criminal Code.

I don’t believe the drugs belonged to Dima. Dima went there to his parents to help care for his sick grandmother. The search was carried out by FSB officers, and along with the drugs, they seized all the electronic equipment, Bagina wrote.

Morozov was detained on the evening of 2 October, when he had gone out to a shop. The next morning, FSB officers brought him home for a search and took his computer. The activist’s father, Valery Tsarenko, said that he saw scratches on his son’s face. In addition, Morozov’s hands were swollen—Tsarenko suggested this was from the handcuffs in which the activist had been kept all night. The family learned about the allegations against Morozov from the law enforcement officers during the search. At that point, according to his relatives, the activist was being accused of association with a banned organisation. News of the drugs case emerged later.

After the search, Morozov was taken away again, and his whereabouts were not disclosed to his relatives or lawyers. Later, Tsarenko recorded a video address. He linked his son’s detention to his activism after the State Duma elections. Morozov had been pushing for a rally in Izhevsk, a large city in the Urals, against election violations: after being refused by the city administration, the activists appealed to court, which ordered the authorities to review the protest application again.

For more than 24 hours, lawyers were not allowed access to Morozov. On the morning of 4 October, Bagina reported that one of the defenders was finally able to see the activist.

On that same day, Morozov’s supporters attended a Communist Party (KPRF) rally in Moscow with placards in his support. They demanded the activist’s release. Around 60 people were detained by law enforcement during the protest.