(C) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty [1]:
Rapper Morgenshtern Leaves Russia After Top Investigator's Drug Dealing Claims – Reports
Date: 2021-11-24 00:00:00 [2]
Popular rapper Morgenshtern has left Russia after the country’s top investigator accused him of drug dealing, the Ura.ru news website reported Wednesday.
Alisher Valeyev, who goes by the stage name Morgenshtern, reportedly boarded a train from the western Russian border city of Smolensk to Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, with his wife and bodyguards.
Earlier Tuesday, Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin claimed that “blogger Morgenshtern essentially sells drugs on social media.”
“And we sit and argue in the abstract that human rights cannot be violated and the state needs to move over,” Bastrykin said at a legal conference via videoconference.
Valeyev’s lawyer Sergei Zhorin said he can “neither confirm nor deny” news of his client’s alleged departure. Zhorin previously expressed alarm over Bastrykin’s comments, which he said could lead to criminal prosecution.
The Kremlin distanced itself from the controversy surrounding Bastrykin’s claims, saying the Investigative Committee has the “prerogative to level accusations supported by evidence and arguments.”
[END]
[2] Url:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/24/rapper-morgenshtern-leaves-russia-after-top-investigators-drug-dealing-claims-reports-a75655
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