The head of police in the West Siberian Tomsk Region was dismissed from office on Friday, two days after the death of journalist who was beaten and sexually abused in a police drunk tank.
The 47-year-old journalist, whose name has not been disclosed due to the ongoing investigation, spent almost two weeks in a coma after the January 4 assault before losing his fight for life on Wednesday.
A police officer has been charged. 26-year-old Alexei Mityayev said the stress of his complicated personal life prompted the attack, which came after the victim had been on an extended drinking binge as part of New Year celebrations.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to dismiss Viktor Grechman from his post over the incident, just one in a number of recent cases of police brutality in Russia.
Medvedev last month ordered extensive reform of the Interior Ministry in an effort to deal with police brutality.
The reputation of the Russian police force hit a new low in November 2009, when the country's Interior Minister stated that citizens had the right to defend themselves if attacked by law enforcement officers.
Rashid Nurgaliyev was speaking at a meeting with students just days after police officers in both Moscow and St. Petersburg were detained on suspicion of beating innocent people to death.
"If the citizen is not a criminal who is being detained and has not broken any laws...if he is being attacked, self-defense is applicable here," the minster said in response to a question on rising police crime.
Nurgaliyev, who had earlier reminded police chiefs that their officers should use their weapons against criminals and not innocent citizens, said rogue police were "criminals in uniform, who need to be isolated and jailed."
Reports of police brutality are increasingly common in Russia. In the last 18 months, Russian police officers have been convicted or charged with burning a suspect to death, shooting sprees, a beheading, and rape.
MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti)
