Things turned violent for this human rights activist at Sunday's ‘voters' boycott’ rally in St. Petersburg

Unknown men brutally attacked a human rights activist during Sunday’s “voters’ boycott” demonstration in St. Petersburg. Dinar Idrisov says three people confronted him at the bottom floor of an apartment building, which he had entered to try a photograph the rally from a higher vantage point. Idrisov was livestreaming the demonstration from his smartphone.

When he tried to walk by the men, Idrisov says one of them gut-punched him and then the rest of the group went to work on him, apparently displaying “professional” skill with their fists. The attackers ran off when the building’s residents came out of their homes to investigate the noise.

Idrisov didn’t call the police and brought himself to a nearby emergency room, where doctors diagnosed him with a cheekbone fracture, a concussion, bruises, and a broken left arm.

According to activist groups, police in St. Petersburg detained and later released roughly 20 demonstrators on Sunday.