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French police have detained computer programmer and ex-prisoner Sergei Saveliev, who had smuggled a video archive depicting torture and rape of convicts out of Russia, Gulagu.net reports. On March 13, Saveliev and activist Pierre Affner broke into Vladimir Putin's daughter's villa, Alta Mira, in Biarritz. They proposed that the villa be renamed «Ukraine» and that refugees who had lost their homes because of Putin's war in Ukraine be housed there.
Savelyev himself, upon entering the villa, recorded a video message. He said in it that «the time when you could steal from your people with impunity is over.» «We dedicate this action to Ukraine and to all the people who suffered torture, corruption and repression in Russia. This place should and will be a refuge and a place of help for people who has no place in their own country. While the U.S., British and French authorities are looking for ways to exert economic influence, we are imposing our own (sanctions),» Saveliev added.
He called on activists and human rights defenders in other countries to support the initiative. On March 14, it was reported that anarchists seized a mansion in London, belonging to billionaire Oleg Deripaska.