Five journalists working for the independent media were arrested in Russia. One of them was beaten and threatened with sexual violence by the police

Five journalists who worked for the independent press were arrested on Wednesday evening and Thursday in Russia, where the repression against any challenge to the government is in full swing, reports AFP, quoted by News.ro.

During the night, the police arrested Ekaterina Anikievici from SOTAvision and Konstantin Jarov from RusNews, announced the NGO OVD-Info, specialized in monitoring the repression of freedoms in Russia. Jarov was beaten and threatened with sexual violence by the police, according to a witness cited by the organization.

“They kicked me, put a foot on my head, twisted my fingers and laughed at me when I tried to get up,” said Jarov, quoted by the RusNews media organization. He said he suffered a head wound, abrasions, dislocated and sprained fingers.

According to him, the violence was caused by filming near the residence of another journalist, Antonina Favorskaia from SOTAvision, who was arrested on Wednesday evening immediately after being released after 10 days of administrative detention for disobeying the police.

This journalist’s apartment was searched on Wednesday evening, as well as her parents’, said her lawyer, Mihail Biriukov, quoted by SOTAvision.

Two other journalists, Alexandra Astahova and Anastasia Musatova, who had come to meet their colleague upon release from detention, were also arrested and taken to be questioned by investigators, according to the same source.

According to the Mediazona news website, which specializes in tracking legal cases, the case against Favorskaia is related to the activities of the movement led by the opponent Aleksei Navalnyi, who died in prison in February. His organizations are classified as “extremist” by the Russian judiciary. Antonina Favorskaia covered the trials involving Aleksei Navalnyi for years. She was the one who filmed the last video showing the opponent still alive, on February 15, during a court hearing. She was arrested on March 17, a few hours after laying flowers at the opponent’s grave, according to Mediazona.