The coordinator of Russian opposition politician and anti-corruption campaigner Aleksei Navalny’s St. Petersburg office says has been beaten by an unknown attacker.
Aleksandr Shurshev said on June 26 that he was attacked as he tried to document long lines at the election commission office in the St. Petersburg's Yekateringofsky municipal district.
Shurshev has filed a complaint against the electoral commission in the district, accusing it of hiding information from voters.
"My telephone is broken; arms and knees are bloodied. But I'm still alive," Shurshev wrote on Twitter.
On June 21, Navalny’s team in St. Petersburg published a video showing members of the election commission in the district falsifying papers to support the acting governor of St. Petersburg, Aleksandr Beglov.
After the video circulated on the Internet, city police launched an investigation.
Eighteen of Russia's 83 administrative regions are due to hold elections in September.
With ordinary citizens feeling the pinch of difficult economic times, President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has dropped sharply while protests in regions across the country have swelled.
Putin appointed Beglov, a member of the ruling United Russia party, as acting governor of St. Petersburg in October.
