Russian police search filmmaker's home in rally probe

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

A file picture taken late on December 5, 2011, shows OMON, riot police, officers detaining one of the opposition supporter duringopposition supporters enraged over fraudulent parliamentary vote during a rally to protest the elections results in central Moscow. AFP photo

Russian investigators on Friday searched the home of a film-maker who is working on a documentary about the protest movement lined up against President Vladimir Putin.
 
Acclaimed cinematographer Pavel Kostomarov is directing The Term (Srok), which chronicles Russia's political life after Putin was sworn in for his third term as president in May.
 
His home was searched in the early hours Friday, his colleague Alexei Pivovarov wrote on his Twitter.
 
"(Investigators) told him that he is a witness in the Bolotnaya square case and had him sign a non-disclosure document," Pivovarov, one of the documentary's writers.
 
Russia's investigative committee confirmed to Russian news agencies that Kostomarov is a witness in a case opened on the May 6 protest on Moscow's Bolotnaya square, held on the eve of Putin's inauguration.
 
Kostomarov is best known for his award-winning camerawork in the Arctic-set drama How I Ended This Summer. In May, he launched The Term as co-director, together with Pivovarov, a news anchor on NTV channel, and documentary-maker Alexander Rastorguev.
 
The first segment they published on their video blog showed the arrest of opposition leaders at the May 6 protest, with riot police grabbing Alexei Navalny and twisting his arm as he cries out in pain.
 
Since then they have posted small clips of rallies and trials on a near-daily basis. They have also featured in-depth, personal interviews with opposition leaders .
 
The probe into the May 6 disturbances, when protesters clashed with riot police after being forced into a bottleneck which caused a crush, has already seen 17 people charged and one man convicted and jailed for four and a half years.