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PGO commission begins check into Tatarstan police work

A commission of the PGO will check Tatarstan police work following the incident in which a detainee died after questioning

MOSCOW, March 20 (Itar-Tass) — A commission of the Prosecutor General's Office /PGO/ will check Tatarstan police work following the incident in which a detainee died after questioning.

The commission comprises personnel of the PGO office in the Volga Federal District, led by Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Zaitsev, a PGO official said.

"The commission has left for Tatarstan to check the work of interior bodies in ensuring citizens' rights during criminal prosecution and holding them administratively responsible, including in detaining and arrests," the official said.

In addition, the commission intends to evaluate prosecutors' supervising efforts. "It will scrutinize prosecutors' supervision over compliance by police with citizens' rights in criminal prosecution. It will examine the completeness and objectivity of the reviews by prosecutors of citizens' complaint about illegal actions by police and use of illegal methods of investigation.

"The check will be carried out at the republican level and in all towns and district of Tatarstan. During the check, the inspectors will receive citizens over issue of observing their rights," he said.

The check followed the incident in Kazakh's police station "Dalny."

A man, identified as Sergei Nazarov, was detained and brought to "Dalny" on March 9. He later was hospitalized with rectum rupture and died after surgery.

According to forensic examination, the injuries were inflicted on the detainee with a blunt object. Experts also said "he could not have inflicted them on his own."

Nazarov's relatives said he was not drunk at the moment of detention and that before surgery, he said police had tortured him with a champagne bottle.

Five police officers, suspected of torturing the man, have been relieved of their duties and detained.

The five police were identified as head of the "Dalny" criminal investigation office Almaz Vasilov, district police officer Ilshat Garifullin, and detectives llvar Ibatullin, Ramil Akhmetzyanov and Marat Sabirov of the criminal investigation department.

After the incident came into the limelight, a number of Kazan residents reported similar cases or threats of violence at the "Dalny" station. A new criminal case was opened against one of the arrested police on the strength of the statement by likely police abuse victim Aliya Sadykova.