Russian prosecutors issued an arrest warrant on charges of office abuse for a police officer, who was fired after posting a video on the web asking Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to launch a nationwide corruption probe.
Police Major Alexei Dymovsky from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in the Krasnodar Territory posted two videos last month on his website accusing his chiefs and colleagues of corruption. Dymovsky addressed his speech to Putin. The video address was also posted on YouTube.com with English subtitles.
The video shows Dymovsky saying department chiefs forced officers to solve nonexistent crimes and even "jail innocent people" to improve statistics and lamenting that ordinary staff were treated "like cattle," had no days off or sick leaves, as well as saying that young people came to work in the police forces on a 12,000 rubles monthly wage ($413) because they knew they would have "tributes."
The Novorossiisk police department said the major has not appeared at work "since August 2009" as he was on sick leave. The department also said it believes Dymovsky should have discussed the problems inside his unit instead of "bringing them up on the web and tarnishing the image of the Novorossiisk police."
President Dmitry Medvedev has highlighted corruption as one of the country's key problems. In May 2009, Medvedev said corruption in Russia needs to be made "improper" and public opinion should contribute to this way of thinking.
Last week, Medvedev signed a decree to streamline the law enforcement structure, in particular ordering staff cuts and instituting the rotation of senior personnel at the Interior Ministry.
The government was told to downsize Interior Ministry personnel by 20% before January 1, 2012.
The decree also orders the interior minister to review personnel selection procedures with a view to making the force better motivated, focused and professional.
Medvedev has pledged radical changes to the Interior Ministry's structure, but said responsible workers would retain their jobs. Redundancies could be balanced with higher salaries for those police officers who will survive the reform, according to the president.
MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti)
