A municipal deputy was beaten by unknown assailants on a Moscow street where he had lobbied to install street lights.
Kirill Chirkin, who represents the Communist Party in a southwestern Moscow district, wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday that he had been hospitalized with injuries and linked the attack to his political activity.
“I remember that when I fell on the snow, [the assailants] told me something along the lines of ‘knock it off, deputy Chirkin’,” he wrote.
“Ironically, I was attacked exactly where I sought to install additional lighting,” the deputy added.
The Moscow branch of the Communist Party issued a call for witnesses to come forward with their testimony.
“Lately he often received warnings that he’s ‘too brave’ and ‘doesn’t know what he’s getting into’ and has been directly threatened with violence,” the news website red.msk.ru reported.
