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Human rights activists suggest continuing the police reform for another two years

The human rights activists suggested removing the internal security department from the jurisdiction of local police

MOSCOW, April 11 (Itar-Tass) —— The reform of the police has failed, and further incidents in the police, like the one at the Dalny police station in Tatarstan, will cause mob law over police all over the country, members of the presidential council on development of the civil society and human rights said during a special meeting on Tuesday. The human rights activists suggested removing the internal security department from the jurisdiction of local police and organizing on the federal level a state commission to consider complaints about the police, as in Great Britain, as well as introducing an exam on “Human Rights at the Interior Ministry’s universities”.

The reason for the meeting of the presidential council on the development of the civil society and human rights was the incident at Kazan’s Dalny police station, where the police tortured the detainee, the Kommersant daily writes. The council members say the incident has demonstrated the police reform had failed completely. “The reform of the Interior Ministry was conducted inside the agency itself, and the public control was but formal,” the resolution for the meeting reads. It stressed that during the certification, “people with pathological inclinations and with criminal living standards came to the police.” “Another Yevsyukov /a policeman, who killed several people/ or Dalny – and we shall witness mob law,” Head of the Committee against tortures Igor Kalyapin summed up. The meeting featured top officials of the Interior Ministry, who had to hear the severe criticism of their work.

The reform of the Interior Ministry should continue for another two years, it is necessary to eliminate the much spoken about system of gaining scores; there should be new standards of training the staff; it is necessary to improve public control over the police. Those are the suggestions the participants in the meeting on April 10 made, the Izvestia writes.

Head of the police Main Interior Security Department Yuri Draguntsov stated that following the qualifying evaluation, the number of the police crimes had lowered dramatically. In 2011, the police were involved in slightly over 5,000 crimes, where corruption prevailed.

But human rights experts are sure the reform is far from being over – the events in Kazan and in St. Petersburg, where the police killed the detainees, prove it. The council’s participants suggested continuing the Interior Ministry’s reform for two-three years, to conduct additional qualifying evaluation (recertification) of the police staff.

“The meeting was very productive,” the Council’s Chairman Mikhail Fedotov said. “By April 16, we shall offer a list of recommendations and submit it to the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee (SKP), and by April 28 the document will be passed to the president.”

Members of the council suggested organizing on the federal level a new independent authority for control over the police – a state commission to consider complaints about staff of the Interior Ministry, the Kommersant writes. A similar authority /The Independent Police Complaints Commission/ has been working in UK since 2004. Besides, the human rights activists suggested removing the interior security departments from the jurisdiction of regional police and to change their format into that of departments of interior investigations /which will be responsible exclusively for the police, who commit criminal offenses/.

High-ranking officials of the Interior Ministry, who attended the meeting, were not likely to cast dust upon their heads, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. For example, Deputy Minister Sergei Bulavin said there is no avoiding a transition period, which is necessary for the staff to adapt to new objectives, tasks and even ideology of the police. He claimed the police had started protecting rights of separate individuals.

The newspaper is sure the discussion between the human rights activists and the police won’t be productive. Now the ball is on the side of the Interior Ministry leadership. On April 13, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev is coming to the State Duma to participate in the Governmental Hour hearing, which is a result of insistent demands by the opposition, though following an approval by the United Russia party.

Judging by the discussion on Tuesday, it is possible to forecast that Nurgaliyev is not going to confess to the State Duma. The Nezavisimaya Gazeta has learned the opposition decided to deliver the first strike. On Thursday, the council of the lower house of the parliament is expected to receive a bill demanding from the president the Interior Minister dismissal. The document was drafted by A Just Russia, deputy Dmitry Gorovtsov of that faction said. This position has been supported by CPRF /Communist Party of the Russian Federation/ and LDPR /Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia/, he said.