Russian Communist Says He Was Kidnaped, Beaten

A Russian Communist leader said Monday he was kidnaped, beaten and abandoned in woods near Moscow in an attempt at political intimidation.

Viktor Anpilov, head of the small, hard-line Russian Communist Workers Party, was one of the leaders of a Communist and nationalist May Day rally that turned violent, resulting in a policeman’s death and the injury of hundreds of people.

Anpilov disappeared Saturday after being questioned at the Moscow prosecutor’s office about the disturbances. Interfax news agency said Anpilov made the abduction charge in an interview after returning home two days later.

He told the agency he was seized by unidentified armed men Saturday and taken, blindfolded and in handcuffs, to a dacha , or cottage, outside the capital.

He said he was held there and from time to time beaten “especially cruelly and professionally.” Interfax said its correspondent reported that “traces of beatings” were visible on Anpilov’s body.

Anpilov said he was then tied up and dumped Sunday in woods on the outskirts of Moscow. He called the alleged incident the work of “a parallel state security structure that is not subject to the authorities and the constitution.”

“Anpilov believes the kidnaping was carried out in order to frighten him, but he does not intend to give up the struggle,” Interfax said.

Itar-Tass news agency earlier quoted staff at the prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the disturbances, as saying they had heard nothing of Anpilov since they allowed him to go home.

No further comment was available from the office, which was closed Monday for a public holiday.