Polish authorities have detained a second suspect in the June murder of a Russian artist who had criticised President Vladimir Putin, Poland's secret service chief Tomasz Siemoniak said on Thursday, Reuters reported from Warsaw.

Source: Reuters

The artist, Robert Kuzovkov, also known as Semyon Skrepetsky, died after he was hit by five bullets in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska in June. Kuzovkov was known for work criticising the Russian authorities and had staged a protest in Berlin shortly before the shooting, Reuters said.

Second suspect held for three months

The second man is a 22-year-old Georgian national suspected of complicity in the murder, and a court has placed him in pre-trial detention for three months, Siemoniak wrote on X on Thursday, according to Reuters. In his post, Siemoniak said officers of Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) had detained the man, and that the investigation is being led by the ABW's Lublin delegation together with the police, under the supervision of the National Prosecutor's Office, AnewZ reported, quoting the post. He added that the investigation is still developing.

Source: AnewZ

At the time of the killing, Polish authorities detained a 36-year-old man who they said was using a Georgian passport, Reuters said. Neither report named the second suspect, and neither attributed a motive for the killing or linked it to any state.

A suspect is not a conviction: both men remain suspects in an ongoing investigation, and the court step reported on Thursday is pre-trial detention, not a verdict. Awaaz Punjab is reporting only what Polish officials and the two news reports state, and is not treating any wider claim about who ordered the killing as established.