Russian authorities launched a new probe of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and took him in for questioning Friday.
Navalny posted on Twitter that while he was being questioned, investigators and armed police officers raided the office of his anti-corruption foundation.
He said in his post that he was stopped by 12 police officers outside his apartment Friday morning and was taken to the federal Investigative Committee for questioning.
In December of last year, Navalny was convicted of fraud and given a 3.5 - year suspended sentence. The court ordered he remain under house arrest until his appeals were exhausted. His brother, Oleg, was sent to jail.
Navalny has been allowed to leave his home in recent days, but has been under surveillance by law enforcement personnel stationed outside his door.
Thursday evening, police detained more than a dozen people from among about 100 protesters who had gathered in central Moscow in support of Navalny and his brother. A much larger group of pro-Kremlin activists confronted them.
Navalny, a 38-year-old lawyer, founded a non-governmental organization called the Foundation to Fight Corruption. He has become among the most vocal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, exposing corruption within Russian political elite.
