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| - A prominent Russian opposition activist and former lawmaker, Dmitry Gudkov, who faced possible jail, was released Thursday without being formally charged in a rare about-face, his lawyer said. "He's been released," lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told AFP. "No charges have been laid." Russia's opposition says that authorities have in recent months been stepping up a campaign of intimidation against dissenters ahead of a parliamentary vote in September, allegations the Kremlin has rejected. Gudkov, 41, was detained earlier this week over unpaid rent from 2015 and faced up to five years in prison. Police also conducted searches at his country house outside Moscow as well as the homes of his allies and relatives. The Kremlin critic was released as the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, often called the Russian Davos, started on Thursday in Russia's second city. President Vladimir Putin is set to address the forum -- the country's main showcase for investors -- on Friday. Gudkov's unusual release comes after a Russian court on Wednesday ordered that another well-known Kremlin critic, Andrei Pivovarov, be held in pre-trial detention for two months. Pivovarov, the former executive director of Open Russia, a recently disbanded pro-democracy group, was pulled off a Warsaw-bound flight on Monday as his plane was taxiing toward take-off. Police searched his Saint Petersburg apartment overnight and a criminal probe was launched against the activist for cooperating with an "undesirable organisation." Pivovarov faces up to six years in prison if convicted. Open Russia, founded by self-exiled Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, announced last week it was shutting down to shield its members from prosecution. The group was designated an "undesirable" organisation in Russia in 2017 in line with a law targeting foreign-funded groups accused of political meddling. The European Union has called for Pivovarov's immediate release. as/har
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