Russian poet and activist Artyom Kamardin, 31, was arrested Monday in Moscow after reciting poems condemning President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. According to his lawyer Leonid Solovyov, Kamardin was beaten by officers during a search of his apartment and raped with a dumbbell.
According to the Internet newspaper “Meduza”, Kamardin was arrested along with his girlfriend Alexandra Popova and his roommate Alexander Menyukov during a raid on his apartment. Police officers — armed with machine guns — “roughly beat the 31-year-old and put a barbell in his anal opening.” This information was also confirmed by Kamardin’s lawyer, Solovyov.
Hair pulled out, kicked and “caught”
According to the Washington Post, his girlfriend Popova told the newspaper and news site OVD-Info that she too had been a victim of violence. Police officers allegedly pulled out, kicked and “caught” her hair. They would also have covered her face with super glue and stickers. Popova also says the officers also threatened her with gang rape. Kamardin’s lawyer also confirms this message.
Kamardin’s roommate, Menyukov, told Internet newspaper Meduza that he, too, had been beaten by the officers. “They usually hit me on the back,” Menyukov said. He too suffered injuries: “My ear is broken a bit and I have bruises on my wrists and bruises on my back.”
Poem laced with swear words
The search came a day after Kamardin recited his poem “Kill Me, Militiaman” at the annual public poetry reading in Moscow’s Triumfalnaya Square. The blasphemous poem, written by the 31-year-old in 2015 — a year after Russia annexed Crimea — is a harsh critique of Putin’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
A video released by SOTA around 2 a.m. Tuesday shows the Russians emerging from the Tverskoy District Office of the Commission of Inquiry in Moscow, accompanied by medical personnel and police officers. An ambulance was called for a concussion from the assault, the lawyer said.
Doctors found no external bleeding. Solovyov reported Tuesday morning that Kamardin was no longer hospitalized and is currently still in police custody. The 31-year-old activist has since been charged with incitement to hatred, which carries a prison sentence of up to six years.
While in police custody, the visibly battered Kamardin was forced to apologize for his behavior, which was captured on video and distributed on a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel: said yesterday in Triumfalnaya Square,” the ailing man said. closer in the shot.
Popova and Menyukov have since been released. You are now listed as a witness in criminal proceedings.
Source: Krone
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