Moscow court jails photojournalist Ivan Kleymenov for 10 days after he’s violently arrested while reporting at Sunday’s protests

A Moscow court has sentenced photojournalist Ivan Kleymenov to 10 days in jail for allegedly joining an unlawful assembly that blocked traffic on Sunday. He was arrested while reporting from opposition protests on January 31 at Rusakovskaya Street, where police officers tased him and struck him in the head. The arrest was captured on video and shared on social media.

After his arrest, though paramedics diagnosed him with four contusions, Kleymenov was held overnight at a local police station. 

Ivan Kleymenov is an accomplished photojournalist who’s worked with many news publications reporting in Russia, including Meduza. He is one of more than 80 journalists arrested at nationwide demonstrations on January 31. During Sunday’s rallies, police also detained Sergey Parkhomenko (Ekho Moskvy), Mikhail Zelensky (Holod Media), Elena Kostyuchenko (Novaya Gazeta), Daniil Turovsky (vDud), Anton Feinberg (RBC), Anton Osherov (Moloko Plus), and Valeria Savinova (MBK Media). Many of these journalists were arrested despite wearing vests identifying themselves as members of the news media, even after presenting officers with their press cards and reporting assignments.