Friends of Anna Duritskaya, the girlfriend of murdered Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, have said that they fear Russian authorities are trying to frame her for the leader's murder.
According to the Daily star, Duritskaya, who was with Nemtsov when he was blasted in Moscow, was interrogated by the police for several hours.
One of her friends said that she is the "victim of appalling innuendo" as she mourns the death of the leader.
She was under armed guard last night as thousands of people surged to the streets to protest at the death of the opposition leader.
An investigator said that the woman who accompanied him when he was shot dead is a citizen of Ukraine.