We have previously blogged about the courageous activities of Business-Solidarity chairwoman Yana Yakovleva, who, following a stint in jail on allegations of tax evasion she maintains were unjustified, dedicates her time to militating against what she considers to be the systemic ill treatment of entrepreneurs in Russia at the hands of corrupt officials.  She comments today in an RFE/RL feature about the case of 34-year-old Moscow entrepreneur Vladimir Romanov, who was sent to pretrial detention on charges of illegal banking activities and money laundering, which he also claims to be unfounded.  His wife was told his release from jail would cost $400,000; a sum, which, when paid, did not secure his freedom.  Yakovleva says, ‘a trend has swept the country, and it already has a name: criminal-legal repression […] It is a state within the state. This system has long cut loose and turned against the population, but now it has cut loose even from the federal authorities.’  Romanov explains:

A man entered my office and indentified himself as a police officer. He told me to place my hands on the table and shut down my computer,” he recalls. “At first I thought it was a joke, but then several people entered the room armed with machine guns. More than 50 people were involved in the operation. That’s when I realized I was in trouble, in big trouble.”