YEKATERINBURG, November 22 (RIA Novosti) – Law enforcement officials said Friday they detained an internationally wanted employee of a Russian drug rehab center run by an opposition politician, over alleged drug trafficking.
Yevgeny Malenkin, vice-president of the Sverdlovsk Region-based City Without Drugs foundation, was previously accused of being involved in illegal detention of patients. Regional investigators claimed Malenkin was detained in connection with unrelated drug trafficking charges.
According to investigators, Malenkin ordered another fund employee to plant heroin on a Yekaterinburg resident.
City Without Drugs has gained a reputation for a tough approach to handling its patients, who are often admitted to rehab without their written consent – usually at relatives’ request – and subjected to “cold turkey” to wean them off their addictions.
Several of its employees have been accused of illegally detaining addicts. One of them, Igor Shabalin, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison on Thursday.
The rehab foundation is run by Yevgeny Roizman, a former lawmaker and businessman affiliated with billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who runs the moderate opposition Civic Platform party.
Roizman’s tough rehab agenda and anti-establishment stance in his local region gained significant support in Russia, the world’s largest consumer of heroin according to the nation’s anti-narcotics authorities.
His popularity was reflected in his win over the pro-Kremlin candidate in September mayoral elections in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-biggest city.
