PMC asks Russian Guard head to check lawfulness of actions of his employees who arrested actor Ustinov
MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - The Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) of Moscow has asked head of the Russian Guard Viktor Zolotov to order an internal investigation into the actions of his employees after actor Pavel Ustinov complained that guardsmen beat him up while detaining him in the center of Moscow.
"In the official letter, I ask the head of the Russian Guard to hold an investigation to check the information reported in Ustinov's complaint and to take measures to protect his rights," PMC Executive Secretary Ivan Melnikov told Interfax on Wednesday.
Melnikov's letter draws Zolotov's attention to the legal position of Ustinov, who claims that he was beaten up by four Russian Guard officers and received numerous injuries.
"He [Ustinov] views his detention and the initiation of a criminal case against him as an attempt on the part of particular dishonest [Russian Guard] officers to avoid prosecution for abuse of office. Let me point out that a majority of Russian Guard employees are honest law enforcement officers, many of them having previously served as army officers and fought in hotspots of tension. I hope for an impartial investigation, including on the part of the internal security service, to check the actions of certain employees for legitimacy," Melnikov said.
On Monday, the Moscow Tverskoi District Court sentenced actor Pavel Ustinov, 24, to 3.5 years in a penal colony for subjecting an OMON special operations officer to violence during a rally in central Moscow that took place on August 3.