On 25 September, the Moscow police and officers of the Centre for Combating Extremism, also known as Centre E, detained Darya Ivanova and her friend for putting up anti-war leaflets. At the police station, the officers beat her up and choked her. They also threatened to find drugs on her person and charge her with prostitution, the woman told Mediazona news outlet.
Photo: Darya Ivanova / Mediazona
Darya was detained on 25 September. The police barged into her house, grabbed her by her arms and legs and carried her to the elevator. They took her out of her house with no shoes or coat on and told people on the street: “See, this is how we catch druggies.”
Ivanova was brought to a police station in a personal vehicle of one of the officers. Later, Darya’s friend was brought in too. The women put up fliers that read: “We’ll bring a coffin to every home, paid for by the state. To order a coffin, contact the nearest conscription office. Whom do you need to bury? Your husband, father, son, or brother?”
“A Centre E officer came to me first. He locked the door, grabbed me by the hair and slammed me into the floor twice. I don’t know why he locked the door, there were lots of other officers in the room. They didn’t try to stop him,” Darya said.
Before carrying out a body search, the policemen threatened to find drugs on Darya’s person: “We’ll find drugs in your arse, then we’ll charge you with prostitution, too.” The female officer who carried out the search did not do a full sweep and did not allow any other officers in the room during the procedure.
“All the officers focused their attention on us, they kept coming in, making jokes and laughing at us, calling us names, calling us scum, lecturing us,” Ivanova says.
“Why are you doing this? Do you know history at all? Do you remember 1917? Why are you scaring the mothers?” the policemen asked the woman.
When Darya refused to write a statement that said that the officers did not put psychological pressure on her or use violence, a Centre E officer grabbed her by the hair and slammed her into the table, and then started punching her in the head and choking her. He also threatened to file a report against Ivanova herself, as she allegedly scratched him.
“I was sitting on the chair with my legs crossed. He was passing by and brushed up against my leg. After that, he turned around angry and started punching and kicking my calves, my arms, anywhere he could reach. I crossed my arms in front of me to protect myself from him somehow and screamed loudly, listing off everything he was doing: ‘Come on, punch me in the head again, pull out another tuft of hair, kick me in the leg again,’” Darya told Mediazona.
Another Centre E officer told Ivanova not to provoke his colleague, and then come to him and write a statement on her beating.
Both women were charged with “discrediting” the Russian army. They were not provided with the copies of the police reports. The only document Darya has is the copy of the body search protocol. Later, Ivanova got a medical report that says she has soft tissue damage.
Photo: Darya Ivanova’s medical report which says that she has “soft tissue damage of the head” / Mediazona
Ivanova says she remembers the faces of police officers that detained her and beat her. She plans to press charges against the policemen to the Investigative Committee.
