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Court begins to hear case over police negligence in Moscow market fight

On July 27, police Lieutenant Vladimir Cherezov and driver Yuri Lunkov were near the Matveyevsky market when law-enforcement officers were detaining a suspected rapist
Photo ITAR-TASS/Sergei Bobylev
Photo ITAR-TASS/Sergei Bobylev

MOSCOW, October 11 (Itar-Tass) - Moscow's Nikulinsky district court on Thursday began to review the case against two police officers accused of negligence after a fight in the city's Matveyevsky market.

Judge Valentina Komarova questioned witnesses for the prosecution. Alexander Berezovoy was the first take the stand. He had led a group of detectives who arrived at the market to apprehend a suspected rapist.

Berezovoy said defendants Vladimir Cherezov and Yuri Lunkov "tried to help; they were keeping the crowd in check... and helped push the suspect into the police patrol car."

However, he acknowledged that their assistance was insufficient. After policeman Anton Kudryashov was attacked, he ordered Lunkov and Cherezov to detain the attacker, but they did not do so. Berezovoy was in the car together with the detainee at that time.

On July 27, police Lieutenant Vladimir Cherezov and driver Yuri Lunkov were near the Matveyevsky market when law-enforcement officers were detaining a suspected rapist. When the detainee's relatives began to resist criminal police and beat detective Anton Kudryashov, his colleagues took no measures to stop the assault, detain the attackers and take them to a police station, the investigator said.

Magomed Rasulov (who attacked Kudryashov) fled the scene. His wife Khalimat Rasulova was detained on suspicion of abetting the crime. After the attack on the policeman, Moscow law-enforcement bodies launched sweeping checks of city markets. The city police chief fired head of the Ochakovo-Matveyevskoye police precinct where the attack had occurred.