As a kid growing up in the 1970s and 80s, during the height of the Cold War, I remember horror stories of people who had run afoul of the law in Russia and sent to the ever-dreaded Siberia. It appears nothing has changed as yet another political activist looks to be on his way to Siberia.

Was Leonid Razvozzhayev guilty of theft? For those of you who don’t know him Razvozzhayev is a jailed Russian opposition activist who claims he was kidnapped and tortured will remain in custody and may be sent to Siberia as part of a 15-year-old investigation into the theft of 500 fur hats. As reported in www.washingtonpost.com.

Investigators who have charged him with plotting mass riots aimed at overthrowing the government. The investigators also said they needed to send Razvozzhayev to Siberia for questioning in the 1997 armed robbery. Oh no – not Siberia!

Razvozzhayev’s case became major news for the opposition after he claimed he was kidnapped in Ukraine in October, tortured for two days and forced to sign a false confession, which he later retracted. Not surprisingly, prosecutors say he turned himself in and deny the allegations of torture.

There are a number of other cases against him as well. Do you think they are trumped, or he just a bad apple? In one case, he is accused of leading a group brandishing hunting rifles and pistols that burst into a businessman’s apartment, taped him to a chair, beat him and left with a video camera and 500 fur hats in the eastern Siberian city of Angarsk in December 1997.

I have no inside knowledge of how things work in the Kremlin, but there is certainly something fishy here. Perhaps the Kremlin should mandate him to an online stop theft class.