Nearly three years after anti-Kremlin protests erupted into bloody clashes between police and protesters in the center of Moscow, police have detained their 33rd suspect in the ongoing Bolotnoye case.
Ivan Nepomnyashchikh, 24, faces up to 10 years behind bars on a charge of assaulting a police officer.
"On Feb. 25, 2015, Nepomnyashchikh was identified by a witness as a person who used force against police officers on Bolotnaya Ploshchad. He has been detained as a suspect for the crime of assaulting a police officer," the Investigative Committee said in an online statement Thursday.
The activist "inflicted no fewer than four blows with his hands and an umbrella" against police officers during the protest on May 6, 2012, the statement said.
Nepomnyashchikh has maintained his innocence, but investigators said in the statement that they have video evidence to prove his guilt.
Hundreds of protesters were detained after the sanctioned protest against President Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency took a violent turn. Opposition activists claimed they were provoked by police, but the Investigative Committee classified the incident as a "mass riot," subsequently charging 32 people for having allegedly orchestrated riots.
Eleven of those charged were later pardoned under a presidential amnesty in December 2013.
Investigators have petitioned a court to sanction Nepomnyashchikh's arrest.
