Mikhail Lobanov, a former candidate for Russia’s State Duma and a mathematics professor at Moscow State University, was arrested for 15 days for “disobeying police” during a search of his home. The raid was part of an investigation into politician Ilya Ponomarev spreading “fakes” about the Russian army. During the search, Lobanov was hit in the face and chest, and there was blood on the floor of the apartment, according to a tweet on the politician’s official Twitter profile. The police also took all the electronic equipment out of Lobanov’s home.
“The police quickly kicked down the door and questioned Lobanov in the apartment for more than three hours. They did not allow him to contact his lawyer, demanded he sign some papers and behaved in an unjustifiably cruel way, reported Mikhail's wife Alexandra Zapolskaya. During the search, the investigator mentioned the name ‘Ponomarev’ (probably referring to [politician] Ilya Ponomarev), with whom Lobanov is not acquainted or connected in any way,” said Lobanov’s Twitter page.
After the “search,” Lobanov was taken to the Ramenki district police department, and then to Moscow’s Nikulinsky district court, where he was charged for allegedly disobeying a police officer.
Mathematician Mikhail Lobanov ran for the Russia’s State Duma in the fall of 2021, after being nominated with the support of the Communist Party (CPRF), and backed by Alexei Navalny's “Smart Voting” campaign. Lobanov's main opponent in Moscow’s 197th Kuntsevo district single-mandate constituency was the TV propagandist Yevgeny Popov, supported by United Russia and Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Lobanov led with a margin of more than 10 thousand votes, but after the results of the remote electronic voting were published, it turned out that Popov had won.