Moscow police resorted to naked force when dispersing the July 27 “unauthorized” demonstration in support of free elections, beating protesters, journalists, and even random passersby with clubs and fists. Even some plainclothes officers, mistaken for more demonstrators, were attacked. Several dozen activists were injured so severely that they needed to be hospitalized. Meduza looks at some of the reported cases.
- Konstantin Konovalov, a former designer at Artem Lebedev’s studio, which developed the Moscow subway logo and the “Thoroughfare” public transit route optimization program. Konovalov went out for a morning jog on July 27 and was beaten by National Guard troops near City Hall. He’s been hospitalized with a broken leg.
- Alexandra Parushina, a municipal deputy from Khamovnikov. When police dispersed the rally, she received a blow to the head, and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. This wasn’t the first time Parushina has been attacked: in August 2017, she was beaten up at a construction site.
- Alexander Zaburdyaev, a member of Russia’s Libertarian Party. A National Guardsman hit him in the head with a club near Kamergersky Lane.
- Ignat Davydov was arrested at Trubnaya Square. According to his mother, he received a serious blow to the head.
- Boris Kantorovich was beaten up by police officers and riot police at Rozhdestvenka Street, and hospitalized with multiple bruises and abrasions caused by clubs, possibly damaging his lungs. His friend Inga Kudracheva, who was also beaten up, says police officers refused to give him first aid assistance, after they were arrested, telling him, “Nobody beat you up.”
- Evgeny Feldman, who photographed the protest for Meduza, received a broken nose, and his camera was damaged.
- Alexander Soloukhin, a cameraman for Ilya Varlamov’s YouTube channel, received a broken nose when police dispersed the rally at Trubnaya Square.
- Balaram Usov, the editor of the student journal DOKHA, reportedly suffered a hand injury, after being pushed against a door. He was also struck in the head with a police club. Paramedics later collected Usov and other protester with similar injuries at the police station and brought them to the hospital.
- Dmitry Sukhov was struck in the head when police dispersed the rally at Trubnaya Square.
- Ivan Smyatkin injured his hand when being arrested and brought to the Tverskoe police station.
- Nikolai Andreichev dislocated his elbow when police arrested him.
For more about the protest crackdown
Translation by Kevin Rothrock