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Police to Review Solidarity Activist Beating

Moscow police will consider the complaint of Solidarity movement activist Dmitry Monakhov that police officers beat him during Thursday's unauthorized rally in support of Alexei Navalny, news reports said Monday.

"There are photographs where everything is shown, including the badges of the police officers who took part in the beatings. I think that they will be held accountable" Solidarity movement member Sergei Davidis was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Davidis said that Monakhov was beaten on a bus near the building of the State Duma. During the rally, which started at Manezh Square, he was shouting loudly and drew the attention of the police, but Davidis said that neither is an offense..

Monakhov had to go to the hospital following the incident, though he was not in critical condition.

Various estimates counted between 2.5 thousand and 10 thousand people participated in the July 18 rally.

The police detained about 200 protesters rallying against a court decision sentencing opposition leader Alexei Navalny to five years in prison at the end of a trial that was seen as politically motivated. Navalny was convicted of embezzling 16 million rubles ($500,000) from a timber firm while advising the governor of Russia's Kirov region.

Russia's oldest human rights organization, the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), said they are ready to help the Solidarity Movement activist.

"We will most actively speak on Monakhov's behalf," MHG head Lyudmila Alexeyeva said.

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