A blow to friendship

Russian-Tajik relations were spoiled by “prevention”

The Embassy of Tajikistan in Moscow yesterday issued a special statement in connection with the beating of six students - citizens of this country - right in the dormitory of the State University of Management in Moscow. Five of them were taken to city hospitals with serious injuries. It was unclear yesterday who beat the students, but the Tajik embassy said the incident could damage the country's friendly relations with Russia.

According to initial information disseminated by a source in the leadership of the All-Russian Educational Fund, police officers were involved in the beating of Tajiks. Other sources even featured a specific police department and the names of officials who promised to fire the offenders. However, after yesterday the city prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on the incident, its official representative made a statement asking all data received from other sources to be considered unofficial, biased and interfering with the investigation. It was noted that Moscow prosecutor Anatoly Zuev took control of the investigation of the case.

According to the Moscow prosecutor's office, on Wednesday at about 8 p.m., a man in civilian clothes entered one of the rooms of the university dormitory and presented his police officer ID. Following him, six more people burst in and kicked, using a wheel wrench and a belt, to beat the six Tajik students who were in the room. During the beating, one of the victims dropped his cell phone, which was seized by the attacker, after which they fled the scene. “Information from other sources, including from the press service of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, should not be regarded as official and objective due to the fact that the Main Internal Affairs Directorate is not investigating these circumstances, but may carry out individual instructions from the prosecutor’s office investigators,” the city prosecutor’s office emphasized.

The category “from other sources” also included reports about the visit of the head of the Vykhino police department, Alexander Fedyunin, to the hospital to the victims (the hostel is located on his territory) and his apology for the actions of his subordinates. And also the version that the police were simply in the wrong room. The “prevention” was supposedly supposed to be carried out with another company, which the day before offended the commandant of the hostel, who is the wife of the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate. Both the prosecutor's office and the Central Internal Affairs Directorate refused to confirm or refute these data, citing the fact that an investigation is being carried out, but there is no definitive data on the involvement of police officers in the beating of students.

So far, it is only known that the Moscow prosecutor's office has opened a criminal case under two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - “robbery” and “hooliganism.” At the same time, the press secretary of the Tajik Embassy in Moscow, Muhammad Egamzod, made a special statement: “The Tajik Embassy in Moscow demands that those responsible be brought to justice and a thorough investigation be conducted. Our diplomats are in constant contact with the affected students. For his part, the Ambassador of Tajikistan to the Russian Federation Safar Safarov also intends to monitor the progress of the investigation.”

Eduard LOMOVTSEV