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Art Group Activists Beaten In St. Petersburg


Voina founder Oleg 'Vor' Vorotnikov outside a courtroom on February 21.
Voina founder Oleg 'Vor' Vorotnikov outside a courtroom on February 21.
ST. PETERSBURG -- Three members of the art group Voina (The War) have been attacked and severely beaten in St. Petersburg, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Group member Dmitry Dinze told RFE/RL that unknown assailants attacked and beat three of his colleagues -- Leonid Nikolayev, Oleg Vorotnikov, and Natalya Sokol -- on March 3. The attackers reportedly shouted that they were from the city's criminal investigation department.

Vorotnikov and Nikolayev held a press conference earlier on March 3 in which they told journalists about the poor conditions they faced in Moscow's pretrial detention center. They were released from detention on bail last month.

The Voina activists were arrested in November and charged with hooliganism. They held an art act in November during which they overturned a number of police cars. Their case is still under investigation.

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