St. Petersburg lady kicked by police throughout Navalny protests Pursuing prices

A woman from St. Petersburg who was kicked in the stomach by police during protests demanding the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny from prison will bring charges against the officer told the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

A viral video from Saturday’s nationwide rallies showed 54-year-old Margarita Yudina collapsing on the sidewalk after being kicked by a riot police who was escorting a protester. A video below shown An officer who visits Yudina with flowers in the hospital asks for forgiveness and replies, “It’s okay, thank God.”

Yudina told Novaya Gazeta that the visiting officer was a superior who apologized on behalf of his subordinate and expressed disapproval to the authorities for not giving her testimony.

“It’s not about forgiveness. This case requires legal action instead of melodrama, so I want to go to the investigative committee and find out who attacked me, ”said Yudina.

“When the riot police can’t forgive thrown plastic cups,” Yudina said, referring to it Criminal charges Levied against Moscow protesters in the summer of 2019: “Do we have to hit our heads?”

Russian rights group Team 29 announced that it plans to represent Yudina in court.

Pro-Kremlin expert and talk show host Vladimir Solovyov tried to downplay the incident and called the kick of the officer who knocked Yudina down as “a nudge”. His frequent guest and former head of the Russian Coronavirus Information Center Alexander Myasnikov defended the officer and wrote on social media that the kick was a “reflex created through years of training”.

Yudina is among the estimated 24 St. Petersburg residents who have searched medical attention after the Navalny rallies.

A record 3,770 people were arrested in 120 cities as tens of thousands took to the streets in support of Navalny, who was tried on an old fraud case after returning from Germany, where he recovered from nerve agent poisoning. His allies, most of whom had been jailed or fined on the eve of Saturday’s rallies, have announced new protests for next weekend.

Western leaders have condemned what they termed violence against protesters, while the Kremlin has accused the United States of meddling for publishing a security notice for its citizens.

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