In St. Petersburg, the deputy head of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ruslan Sentemov, was arrested. In 2018, he led the arrests of oppositionists at rallies

The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg arrested until December 25 the deputy chief of police for the protection of public order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Central District, Ruslan Sentemov, on charges of exceeding official powers with the use of violence (clause “a” of part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code), reports the joint press service of the courts.

According to investigators, on the night of September 28, while on duty, “without any reason, due to personal hostility,” Sentemov inflicted a series of blows on a man named A., as a result of which he received a concussion and a closed craniocerebral injury and bruises.

According to Fontanka, the victim was Vardan Harutyunyan, a 39-year-old owner of one of the grocery stores on Millionnaya Street. The publication writes that he already had three violations for selling alcohol at night, and on September 28, Sentemov himself came to the store. In the video published by Fontanka, a policeman pulls the detainee out of his official car and talks to him, and then hits him with his head and slaps his cheeks. After this, the detainee was taken to the police department.

Sentemov was detained a month later, on October 26. According to the press service of the courts, he admitted guilt and repented, but the court sent him into custody.

• Sentemov became widely known in 2018 after his interview with Fontanka. The publication drew attention to the policeman who led the arrests of oppositionists at protest rallies and talked with them. In one of these dialogues, he asked to call himself “Mr. Policeman.” In an interview, Sentemov said that he “treats all citizens with respect” and says that he “spent more than one evening to understand the topic of Alexei Navalny’s criminal cases,” although he does not believe that he can be called a politician.