MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's top investigative agency says it has searched the apartment of a prominent journalist and activist as part of an inquiry involving an exiled Russian tycoon.

The Investigative Committee said its workers searched Zoya Svetova's apartment in Moscow on Tuesday for a probe of alleged fraud and money-laundering by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Svetova writes for various publications, focusing on human rights and defense of political prisoners.

Amnesty International called the search of her apartment "deeply alarming."

Khodorkovsky, an oil tycoon who was once Russia's richest man, served 10 years in prison on tax-evasion and money-laundering charges that were widely seen as a punishment for challenging President Vladimir Putin's power.

He was pardoned shortly before the 2014 Sochi Olympics and has used some of his remaining wealth to support independent media.