02 December 2004, 20:45 Society

Werewolves don't give up without a fight

Irina Petrakova , Elya Vermisheva In Moscow, on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, a traffic police inspector shot at a policeman who was trying to detain him for taking a bribe. The prosecutor's office has already begun an investigation. However, the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate claims that there was no extortion, and the shot at a passerby, who turned out to be an employee of the Internal Security Service, was accidental.

In Moscow, a shootout occurred between police officers when employees of the Internal Security Directorate (USB) tried to catch a traffic police officer taking a bribe.

As ITAR-TASS reports with reference to the capital's Internal Security Service, the previous evening a citizen contacted the internal security service of the Western District Internal Affairs Directorate. He said that some time ago he was involved in a car accident. According to him, the inspector of the 1st separate traffic police battalion of the Moscow State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, who drew up the accident report, took $900 from him, as well as documents, for the return of which he demanded another $600. CSS officers decided to catch the extortionist red-handed.

The next day, the driver went to a meeting with a traffic police inspector, scheduled at the intersection of Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Minskaya Street. At the time of transferring the money, the CSS officers tried to detain the extortionist, but he opened fire from his service weapon, wounded one of the operatives, and then tried to escape in a car. However, soon the inspector-shooter and his partner, who was also in the car, were detained. An internal investigation has been launched against them. The wounded CSS officer was taken to the hospital (no word yet on his condition).

About an hour after reports about this incident appeared in news agencies, the leadership of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate stated that events had developed differently. According to their version, what happened was not a crime, but an accident.

As stated in the official statement of the press service of the capital's Main Internal Affairs Directorate, “while on duty, a Moscow traffic police officer, carelessly handling his service weapon, fired an involuntary shot, as a result of which one of the citizens nearby received a gunshot wound.” As Vladimir Chugunov , deputy head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate , said, “an investigation is being carried out on this fact.”

The Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate refused to give Gazeta.Ru the names of the participants in the incident or provide any details. They stated that they were “confident of the policeman’s innocence and will insist on this version.”

The Moscow prosecutor's office also refused to name the names of the police officers involved in the conflict, but reported that the shooting inspector had already been detained “in accordance with Article 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.” A criminal case has been initiated into the incident under Art. 318 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (use of violence against a representative of the authorities). The prosecutor's office confirmed that a traffic police officer wounded an employee of his own security service in the right leg during an operation to detain alleged extortionist inspectors. of the Western District of the capital is currently investigating the incident The prosecutor's office .

The position of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate in scandalous cases involving unlawful actions of police officers is already traditional.

Thus, in the case of Pumane, who was detained on October 18 in the center of Moscow for transporting explosives, the Moscow police for a long time denied their involvement in his death. At first it was reported that Pumane died of a heart attack, then, when the prosecutor’s office established that the cause of death was beatings, the police reported that they had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, the prosecutor's office blamed his death on Moscow Organized Crime Control officer Vyacheslav Dushenko , who conducted the interrogation during which Pumane was beaten to death.

In the case of Russian hero Magomed Tolboev , who was beaten at the beginning of September near the Vykhino metro station, the leadership of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate also did not admit the fact of the beating, saying that the police acted within the law, and Tolboev fell himself.

Earlier, in June of this year, 27-year-old Dmitry Zolottsev, who was intoxicated, was killed in the police room at the Nakhimovsky Prospekt station. However, the metro police initially reported that Zolotsev died of a sudden heart attack. Only the next day the prosecutor's office announced that the victim died from damage to internal organs. The policeman who beat him to death was detained by the prosecutor's office.