The student, a sociology undergraduate at St. Petersburg State University, arrived at polling station No. 1919 in the morning and had been registered in advance as an observer for Yabloko candidate Olga Yurgevich, according to the party's press service.
Members of the electoral commission told him he did not hold observer status. When he asked to see documents to clarify the situation, the commission chair accused him of trying to disrupt the election, said he was "nobody," and called the police.
Police used force during the detention, and the observer is said to have lost consciousness. He was taken to police station No. 86, where officers drew up a protocol under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code on disobeying a lawful order from a police officer. He now faces arrest.
Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov called what is happening to the party's observers a political crime and urged the Central Election Commission to stop it. The day before, he sent an appeal to CEC head Ella Pamfilova over the exclusion of the party's observers and pressure on them. The CEC has not yet commented.
Observers have reportedly continued to be barred from polling stations for a second day, primarily those from Yabloko and the Communist Party.
Turnout by midday exceeded 33 percent, according to the CEC. Electoral analyst Ivan Shukshin, analyzing official data, wrote that it is full of evidence of fabricated turnout figures in many regions, including Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, the Kuzbass, Krasnodar and Primorsky territories, Leningrad region and St. Petersburg.
Accounts differ: the Yabloko press service and party lawyer Anton Kostik say the observer was registered in advance and lost consciousness during the detention; the commission chair at the polling station, according to the party's press service, said he did not hold observer status.