ST. PETERSBURG, August 30. /TASS/. A judge in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg has issued a restraining order for a man, who attacked an Al Jazeera reporter on August 24, the press service of St. Petersburg courts said on Tuesday.

"The Neva District Court in the city of St. Petersburg has chosen a restraining order as the form of pretrial restraint for Igor Berdov, suspected of committing a crime under Article 116 of the Russian Criminal Code (battery)," the press service said in a statement.

The court document prohibits Berdov from communicating with the victim in any form. He is also barred from using the internet and attending public places and entertainment facilities (including bars, cafes and restaurants) between 22:00 and 06:00.

Rania Dridi, a Palestinian reporter for Al Jazeera television, was live reporting in Arabic for Al Jazeera outside the Wagner PMC center in St. Petersburg on the night of August 24, when an attacker interrupted her to demand that she speak Russian. He then slapped her in the right cheek at least once. The woman was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a closed head injury and concussion.

On Monday, it was announced that the attacker had been detained. A spokesperson for the Russian Interior Ministry told TASS the man fled St. Petersburg and was apprehended by police in northwestern Russia’s Petrozavodsk. The suspect pleaded guilty to the charges, saying that he was badly drunk at the time of the attack, and apologized to the journalist.