MOSCOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) - Moscow's Presnya district court on Wednesday sanctioned the arrest of two patrol service police officers who failed to help their colleague when he was attacked in the city's Matveyevsky market late last month.
Vladimir Cherezov and Yuri Lunkov were put in a pre-trial detention center. The court said they might put pressure on witnesses or try to escape.
The investigator had insisted on custody for the suspects because of their law-enforcement experience and sufficient evidence of their negligence as they stood by watching trader Magomed Rasulov and his wife attack and beat Captain Anton Kudryashov.
The suspects asked for a softer measure of restraint but when questioned, where unable to account for the incident. They referred to their unblemished reputation and denied any intention to interfere with the probe.
"I'm asking not to arrest me; I have a son who needs my guidance," Cherezov said.
Police driver Lunkov denied charges of negligence at the hearing: "I'm a driver; I helped detain Magomed Magomedov, resisted the attempted by a crowd of his supporters to set him free, and it was not my duty to detain the policeman's attackers."
Lunkov's lawyers said there were no reasons for custody because the probe was nearly completed; the investigator had questioned all the key witnesses and carried out the necessary face-to-face interrogations.
The suspects refused to talk to journalists and turned away from cameras. Their lawyers are expected to appeal the custody ruling.
On July 27, Cherezov and Lunkov were present during the operation to detain a suspected rapist in the Matveyevsky market. When the detainee's relatives offered resistance to criminal police and began to beat the police Captain, his colleagues took no measures to stop, detain or bring them to the police station. Rasulov, the attacker, fled the scene, and Captain Kudryashov was rushed to hospital.
Rasulov was detained later.