7/3/20
Journalist David Frenkel was surfing social media on June 30, looking for reports of suspicious activity surrounding the ongoing voting in a national plebiscite on Kremlin-backed constitutional amendments that, among other things, would enable President Vladimir Putin to seek two more terms and possibly remain in the Kremlin until 2036. "I saw a report about the voting station at Fontanka 22," he told RFE/RL, referring to an address in the center of St. Petersburg. "They were purportedly trying to remove a member of the polling-station commission, which according to the law can only be done with a court order. Since this was a serious violation, I naturally went there to find out what was happening." About half an hour later, Frenkel, who reports for the independent MediaZona website, was lying on the polling-station floor, writhing in agony. Video posted on social media showed how a police officer attempted forcibly to remove him, audibly breaking a bone in the process. Frenkel spoke with RFE/RL’s Russian Service and Current Time -- the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA -- from his hospital room where he is recovering from surgery to repair a broken right clavicle.
"Most likely they will release me in a week," he said. "The bone has been fixed. I have a broken clavicle, if I’m not mistaken, and they have put a pin into it. It will grow back together. They aren’t putting me into a cast. The bone should be completely healed in about eight weeks. It is hard to say now, though, how long it will take until I have full use of my arm. "In the video, you can see perfectly how the police officer grabs me by the arm," Frenkel said. "He twists it around my back and begins to push me. He pushes me in the direction of the wall and I fall down. After I fell, he hit me with his fist or something else in the arm. It snaps and I scream out in pain." St. Petersburg police and the Investigative Committee have both said they are investigating the incident at polling station No. 2191. Police have said that Frenkel was being removed for an unspecified "administrative violation."