Russian MVD accused of beating detained anti-war protestors
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has been accused of abusing detained anti-war protestors, Novaya Gazeta reported. The March 6th protests that were held in 65 cities throughout Russia resulted in the arrest of more than 5000 protestors. More than 30 detainees have reported physical abuse during interrogation.
The accusations surface after an audio recording of the interrogation of a 26-year-old Muscovite, Alexandra Kaluzhskikh, circulated online, drawing condemnation.
In a letter written by Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta’s editor-in-chief and co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Muratov noted that, “the detainees were… [subject to] humiliation and physical assault bordering on torture.”
According to the OVD-Info monitoring group, Russian police arrested at least one hundred people during protests around Russia on Tuesday.
Muratov’s letter and the audio recording of the interrogation can be found here.