Translated material
The author of the public page “Police Ombudsman” was arrested for two months
The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested until July 6, 2020 the author of the public page “Police Ombudsman” Vladimir Vorontsov. Vorontsov’s lawyer Sergei Badamshin reported this on his Telegram channel.
Vorontsov was charged under the article on extortion committed by a group of persons on a large scale (clauses “a” and “d”, part 2 of article 163 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, Vorontsov demanded 300 thousand rubles from a police officer for not distributing intimate photographs, which then ended up in the public domain.
According to Moskovsky Komsomolets, without citing a source, employees of the convoy regiment in the morning refused to accompany Vorontsov to court, declaring that they fully supported his activities. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs denied this information; lawyer Badamshin stated that he was “not in the know.”
Vorontsov’s lawyer Sergei Badamshin expressed his attitude to the case as follows: “Vorontsov’s whole case is reprisal for his activities. The system against people traditionally shows its reckless cruelty. The accusation is based on a slander. All this has already become a familiar legal landscape.”
- On May 7,they came to Vorontsov’s apartment with a search, and the security forces entered the apartment through a window, descending from the roof on ropes.
- Earlier, on April 14, a search was carried out at Vorontsov’s home and in the apartment of his wife’s parents as part of a criminal case about distributing fake news about coronavirus (Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code), then he was interrogated as a witness. The reason was a deleted publication on VKontakte that cadets and officers of a military educational institution, in which there were allegedly many cases of coronavirus, were being forced to do exercises.
- “Police Ombudsman” was originally a VKontakte group created during Vorontsov’s work in the police and the “E” center, then pages appeared on other social networks. The public information about violations of the rights of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and criticism of the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is covered.
- One of the latest high-profile publications of the “Police Ombudsman” is a recording of the voice of the alleged head of the Novosibirsk city department, Elena Ustinova, who gives orders to “universally” draw up protocols for violating self-isolation and work “until there are 10 protocols from each district,” with reference to the resolution of the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate in the Novosibirsk region Yuri Sterlikov. The “Police Ombudsman” called for filing requests for an internal audit. A few days later, Sterlikov resigned, and Ustinova was fired “for negative reasons.”