Document #1416423
RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Author)
Russia's Investigative Committee has identified the alleged attacker as 48-year-old Boris Grits, a citizen of Russia and Israel.
After being apprehended on October 23, Grits told investigators police he had been in "telepathic contact with Felgengauer" for five years.
Grits appeared in court for an initial hearing on October 24 where he was ordered to be remanded in pretrial custody at least until December 23. He was also scheduled to undergo a psychiatric examination.
State-owned media have long targeted Ekho Moskvy and other rare independent media outlets in Russia for critical reports about the government.
Earlier in October, state-run Rossia-24 TV issued a report claiming that Ekho Moskvy had paid for "destabilizing society" ahead of Russia's March 2018 presidential election.
Another popular Ekho Moskvy host, Yulia Latynina, fled Russia in September after a suspected arson attack on her car.
Latynina wrote in the October 24 edition of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that the attack against Felgengauer was a logical follow-up to increasingly militant rhetoric from Russian officials who openly describe independent media as enemies.
"Grits' mental disorder curiously matches the party line," Latynina wrote. "The attack on Felgengauer falls neatly into the line of numerous attacks on independent journalists and opposition politicians that were met with impunity."
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