Notable Russian Activist Nearly Had Throat Gashed in Attack by Fake Officer

Russian human rights activist Igor Kalyapin was attacked in a stabbing attempt by an individual who claimed to be a police officer, the Russian Human Rights Council (HRC) said on Telegram on Thursday.

Kalyapin, a founder of the nonprofit Committee Against Torture in Russia (now called Crew Against Torture), is a member of the Human Rights Council, per AFP.

The council said on Telegram that Kalyapin was attacked Wednesday night in the Nizhny Novgorod region by an "unknown" person who tried to "cut his face and strangle him," before the activist was able to call the police.

Kalyapin told RIA Novosti news agency that the attacker came to a birthday party and introduced himself as a police officer, AFP reported.

"This man suddenly attacked me. He didn't explain. He said he needed to kill me and conscientiously tried to do so for 15-20 minutes," Kalyapin told the news agency.

"[He tried to ] beat me and tried to pierce my throat with a glass shard," the human rights activist said of the attacker.

No details were revealed about whether the incident is associated with activities carried out by the Committee Against Torture.

The HRC operates as an advisory body under President Vladimir Putin that reports on civil and human rights in the country. According to its website, the HRC "does not consider appeals on personal issues, including those related to property, housing and labor disputes, as well as complaints about decisions courts, investigative and inquiry bodies."

Meanwhile, Kalyapin's colleague, Natalya Kurekina, told the SOTA online newspaper that the attacker introduced himself as a detective working with the Nizhny Novgorod city police, Radio Free Europe reported.

The attacker was detained and the incident is currently being investigated.

Kalyapin has been transferred to the hospital with a "suspected concussion," according to the council's Telegram post.

Kalyapin served as the former chief of the Committee Against Torture, an organization that monitors and reports abuses by police. He said he had to leave this position in February due to "disagreements with colleagues" about the future of the non-profit, according to AFP.

He left the role after he and his mother were pressured and faced threats from unknown people who he believes are connected to Russian authorities, according to Radio Free Europe.

At one point, the Committee Against Torture decided to shut down after it was added to the justice ministry's list of so-called "foreign agents" earlier this year. However, the organization later decided to resume operations again and changed its name to Crew Against Torture.

Newsweek reached out to Crew Against Torture for comment.

Attacks on Russian Dissent

A number of human rights groups and opposition have been recently targeted in Russia. Earlier this month, authorities blocked the social media account of the Russian human rights group OVD-Info because of its media coverage of the war in Ukraine. The organization is a watchdog that monitors and reports on political persecution in Russia.

"We do not know the exact materials that Russian authorities questioned," Maria Kuznetsova, OVD-Info's spokesperson, told Newsweek at the time. "As a project, we stated our anti-war position from the beginning, so any of our posts can be regarded as 'discrediting' the Russian military."

Additionally, television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova was placed under house arrest this month for two months pending a trial after she drew global attention for opposing the war in Ukraine during a live broadcast.

She was placed under house arrest because of her actions during a protest in July in which she held an anti-Putin poster and placed dolls on the ground that were meant to symbolize dead children.