During regional elections in Russia on Sunday, independent observers reported allegations of voter fraud and attacks on the press, according to independent Russian election watchdog Golos.

Journalist Olga Demidova, who writes for the newspaper Grazhdanksy Golos – affiliated with the Golos election watchdog – was assaulted by three unknown people and had her camera broken, Golos reported. Demidova and her attackers were all rounded up by police officers at the scene, who took them to a police station nearby. The assailants were freed without charge after an hour and a half, Golos reported.

Journalists in the city of Omsk were also reportedly barred from entering a polling station, while others were restricted to areas from which it was impossible to observe the electoral commission’s work, Golos noted. Alexey Simonov, head of the NGO Glasnost Defense Foundation, said that these cases were just two among many other, unreported, violations.

“Most of the local independent media are suffering,” he said in an emailed statement to IPI.

The regional elections were accompanied by accusations of fraud from opposition members as well as from the ruling United Russia party, which maintained its dominance despite opposition gains in some regions.

IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “We are very concerned about an apparent lack of will on the part of the Russian authorities to ensure that journalists are free to cover elections independently. IPI urges the authorities to prosecute those who attack journalists, and to ensure that journalists are able to inform the Russian people about matters of public interest.”

In its 2009 World Press Freedom Review, IPI noted that Russia was the deadliest country in Europe for journalists over the last decade.

At least 53 Journalists have been killed in Russia since 1997, according to IPI’s Death Watch.