A witness quoted by OVD-Info says that Zharov was beaten and threatened with sexual violence by the police officers. “They kicked me, put a foot on my head, twisted my fingers and laughed at me when I tried to get up,” Zharov told RusNews.
According to the journalist, the police violence occurred because filming took place near the house of another journalist, Antonina Favorskaya (also from SOTAvision). She was arrested on Wednesday, immediately after she was released after ten days of administrative detention for disobeying the police.
The journalist’s apartment was searched on Wednesday evening, as were those of her parents, according to her lawyer Mikhail Biryukov. Two other journalists, Alexandra Astachova and Anastasia Mussatova, who were waiting for their colleague upon her release, were also arrested and taken for questioning, according to the same source.
The news site Mediazone reports that the investigation into Favorskaya is related to the movement of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in custody last month. The Russian judiciary calls Navalny’s organizations “extremist”.
Tags: Moscow arrests journalists independent media
