MOSCOW – A Russian journalist died Wednesday after being severely beaten by a police officer in the Siberian city of Tomsk, investigators and his editor said.
Konstantin Popov, who worked for Tomskaya Nedelya weekly, died in a hospital after almost two weeks in a coma, the publication’s editor-in-chief, Yulia Ivanova, said.
The police had this to say:
“The cause of death is not yet revealed,” Natalia Ustymenko, Chief of Information and Public Relations Department of Internal Affairs of the Tomsk region, told Interfax news agency.
In her opinion, the victim – Konstantin Popov – could have died from alcohol intoxication due to consumption of alcoholic beverages.
The officer has since been arrested.
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From the The Other Russia:
A deputy of the Omsk City Council, Oleg Ivanov, has been detained for his support of Aleksei Dymovsky. A Russian police officer who posted a video on YouTube alleging the police force in his home town was corrupt who has been arrested and charged with fraud and corruption. (His YouTube video has received over a million hits)
Oleg Ivanov is known in Omsk for his efforts to combat mafia influences in the regional housing authorities. After achieving a twice over reduction in tariffs for local residents, Ivanov was severely beaten by men later identified as police officers from a neighboring area.
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The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists named Russia the world’s third deadliest country for the news media last year. Several Russian police officers have recently been charged with murder, beatings and other abuses.
Public concern over police abuse has grown after a drunken Moscow precinct chief gunned down two people and wounded seven at a supermarket in April.
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On April 27, Police Major Denis Yevsyukov, chief of the Tsaritsino district precinct in Southern Moscow, opened fire in a supermarket, killing two and injuring six -with four critically injured (www.publicverdict.org, April 27). The major also shot dead the taxi driver who had driven him to the store. What the authorities hastened to present as an act of random brutality on the part of a deranged individual, in reality represents a much deeper institutional problem within the police. Whereas most citizens in a Western country feel either indifferent or protected when they meet police on their streets, in Russia the same meeting evokes fear.
—For Russian click here.