This archive report was first published on 30 June 2020.
On June 30, 2020, a journalist for the opposition website Mediazona was hospitalized with a broken shoulder after being assaulted by a police officer at a polling station in St. Petersburg.
The journalist, David Frenkel, was investigating reported voting irregularities at the polling station when he was accosted by the officer. A video of the incident shows Frenkel introducing himself before being lifted, pressed against a door, and crushed by the officer.
According to Frenkel, the policeman first broke his arm and then struck him at the fracture point. He also alleged that one of the suspicious election observers stood on his leg and pulled him by his injured arm.
Journalists have identified the police officer as 26-year-old Denis Dmitriyev and his suspicious sidekick as Dmitry Abramov, a former council member for the ruling United Russia party.
The police have denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the video shows 'assistance in removing a citizen from the polling station' rather than an assault.
