Russian police assault woman photographing flowers in park as they mistake her for a drug dealer

Police in the city of Ryazan, in central Russia, have broken the shoulder of a 55-year-old local woman and retired teacher as she was relaxing in a park, thinking that she was dropping off drugs, local Telegram news channel Ryazinformburo reported on Thursday.

Valentina Volkova revealed on popular Russian social media platform VK that she was photographing flowers with her phone in the park when a plain-clothes policeman approached her from behind and demanded she hand over her phone.

The police officer then handcuffed her, beat her and placed her in a police car while officers checked to see if she appeared on their databases. Once they had determined that she had no criminal record, she was released.

“You cry out in pain, calling for help, you show them your swollen blue finger, your arm hanging like a whip. In response, you hear, ‘You’ll get over it, bitch’. There are two of them, they grab you and drag you away… I only had one thought: ‘I’m going to be killed!’” she wrote.

Volkova’s colleague Sergey Rakhmanin said on VK she had suffered a shoulder fracture and ruptured tendons, and also had swelling and bruises on her body. Rakhmanin said two police officers had used force against Volkova, neither of whom had been suspended from work. He added that Volkova’s husband was deployed in Ukraine.