"I would have ripped off epaulets for this." In St. Petersburg, a policeman sent a pistol for protesters, this is prohibited by law

During the promotion in support of Alexei Navalny on Sunday, on January 31 in St. Petersburg, a policeman took out a table weapon from Kobura and threatened them as a protester. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs hastened to announce that the actions of the employee were legal and reasonable. Former security officials interviewed by the Mediazone explained why such a situation is unacceptable - a security official with firearms at a rally is a danger not only for protesters, but also for himself and his colleagues.

A skirmish on the hay

The incident with an armed employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs occurred on Sennaya Square when a group of demonstrators pushed several police officers to the John’s chapel. In the video published by the Fontanka, several young people run after the security forces; One of them loses his hat in a skirmish, leans behind it, and then takes out a shift pistol from the holster and directs it to the already stopped people. As a result, he retires to the cries of “go away”.

The ex-employees of law enforcement agencies surveyed by the Mediazone were surprised not only in the way the policeman behaved, but also by the very fact of the appearance of an armed person in a mass action. According to them, the police, who are sent to disperse rallies, are forbidden to take a past weapon with them - this is an established practice. After all, both a law enforcement officer himself and random passers -by can suffer.

“I would have tore the epaulettes from the commander for this and from the [policeman who took a pistol from the holster]. It’s impossible to objectively here. He threatens not only his life, but also the life of his comrades. If the gun is torn out of the hands, what will happen? This is horror, ”the former employee of one of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs told Mediazone on the basis of anonymity.

Law and police

In the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, the actions of the policeman, which took at the site of protest, was justified by the policeman. They noted that the policeman took out a gun after aggressive participants in an inconsistent campaign created an obvious threat to his health. “In order to suppress these actions, in accordance with the Law“ On the Police ”he exposed a hundredth weapons. This has an effect, illegal actions ceased, ”the department said .

24 Article “On the Police” - it is called “Guarantees of the personal security of the armed police officer” - really allows the police to “expose firearms and make him ready if the basis for its use may arise.” And probably, it was this article that meant the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, calling the police actions “legal and reasonable”.

However, in, there is not one who would allow the policeman to use weapons in the crowd at the protest. Moreover, the law prescribes a direct ban: “The police officer does not have the right to use firearms with a significant accumulation of citizens, if random persons may suffer as a result of its use.”

The fact that it is impossible to use special means, including firearms in the suppression of unauthorized meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions and pickets of non -violent nature, wrote in his scientific article the associate professor of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, colonel of the police Troshin. He adds that demonstrations should not violate public order, work, communications and organizations. Both shares in the support of Navalny were stated as peaceful, moreover, in the episode when a police officer takes out a service weapon from a holster, demonstrators go along the sidewalk, without interfering with either the movement of transport or the work of institutions.

The experience of colleagues

Two former police officers, with whom the Mediazona spoke, emphasize that the security forces of the protest, and the case in St. Petersburg, out of the ordinary event, will never give the security forces.

“Honestly, I have not read the police law for a long time, but in our time it was forbidden to take a service firearm for rallies. Employees have never worn a hundredth firearms for rallies, ”says a former criminal investigation officer. -By chance, you can shoot someone. They can also [protesters] pick up [weapons] and shoot you or someone. We discussed this moment with our former colleagues. We [the St. Petersburg policeman] briefly called him: ******* [idiot]. "

Another interlocutor of the Mediazone, the current policeman, admits that the armed employee could not formally second to the detachments engaged in the dispersal of the demonstration. This explains the presence of a pistol, since the police, in principle, are supposed to wear a hundredth weapons, but does not answer the question of how this policeman was with a combat gun among the protesters.

Threat assessment

A member of the rally on January 31, to which the policeman threatened with a gun, was arrested in the case on a video widespread the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he seems to be a 32-year-old native of Arkhangelsk and says that "he was wrong, he made superfluous, pushing the police officer." The Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that it was after the protester pushed the policeman in Hay Square, he took out a gun and directed it to people.

The interlocutors of the Mediazones insist: a skirmish between the St. Petersburg policeman and a demonstrator, which fell on the video, is not a reason to waving a gun surrounded by the crowd. Firstly, the threat to the policeman is not so obvious, and secondly, the police officer risked not only to accidentally injure someone, but the main thing to lose the pistol, which would threaten the life of others.

“If an employee wanted to scare someone, then again, instructions on shooting are forbidden to do this. It is impossible to direct the weapon towards the faces, regardless of whether it is charged or not, ”one of the former police officers emphasizes.

According to him, armed employees are usually far from the action, and it is impossible to appear in the thick of events with weapons. “The fact that an employee with a gun was there was in general for this the caps should fly. I thought that maybe I didn’t catch up with something, I consulted with one current employees. He said that in the same place the law directly prohibits the use of firearms in conditions of a large accumulation of people. And here he was essentially ready to apply it, ”adds the ex-policeman. He did not see the grounds for getting a gun in the case of a St. Petersburg policeman.

The former investigator of the UK adheres to the same point of view, with whom the Mediazona spoke.

“Logic tells me that weapons should not be there. Because the crowd is such a river that can pick you up, make you out in parts and throw you somewhere on the sidelines, ”he argues. “But in general it’s hard for me to judge.” We must look at what their regulations are, what official duties are provided. From the point of view of common sense, probably, you should not carry combat weapons with you on such mass shares. I don’t really understand why he sent weapons to the crowd. ”

Editor: Dmitry Treshchin