Criminal cases opened against six policemen after children murdered in Nizhny Novgorod
MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Investigators probing the murder of six children in Nizhny Novgorod intend to ask the court to arrest two policemen suspected of negligence, which has become an indirect cause of the tragedy, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Friday.
"Today police commissioner Vladimir Filimonov and his direct superior Viktor Miller were detained in the framework of the criminal case. Investigators plan shortly to ask the court to apply the restriction of arrest regarding them," Markin said.
A criminal case has also been opened regarding deputy district police department chief Igor Shorin, who is also suspected of negligence.
According to the information from the Russian Investigative Committee, Filimonov held four procedural checks over the statement filed by Oleg Belov's wife on numerous incidents of violence and threats from the husband.
"All these checks ended up with the resolution to deny opening the criminal cases, which was accorded by Viktor Miller. The criminal inaction of the police officers led to the possibility of Belov committing the mass murder," Markin said.
Thus, a total of six policemen are currently suspects in the case: district police department chief Alexander Volchak, his deputies Vyacheslav Nikitin and Shorin, subdivision chief Miller, and police commissioners Dmitry Oblivin and Filimonov, Markin said.
"These criminal cases will be merged into one soon," Markin said.
A source in the Nizhny Novgorod law enforcement authorities told Interfax earlier on Friday that Filimonov was detained and Miller was questioned.
Police and investigators found the dismembered bodies of the children and presumably their mother at an apartment in the Nizhegorodsky district of Nizhny Novgorod on August 4. Oleg Belov, the children's father, who was registered with a mental clinic and had left in an unknown direction, was suspected of committing the crime.
Five hours later police found the dead body of Belov's mother in the town of Gorokhovets in the Vladimir region. Belov himself was found shortly afterwards at the house of his mother-in-law in Kovrov. During his detention, he attacked police officers with a knife, was shot in the stomach and was admitted to hospital.
The Investigative Committee has opened criminal cases against the head of the local education department and five Nizhny Novgorod police officers whose lack of actions investigators believe led to the tragedy. The police officers are Alexander Volchak (the head of the police department for the Nizhny Novgorod Nizhegorodsky District), his deputy Vyacheslav Nikitin, Viktor Miller (department head), Dmitry Oblivin (district police officer) and Vladimir Filimonov (district police officer).
Specifically, Investigative Committee official Vladimir Markin said the police department received several complaints from Belov's wife about his hooliganism and battery of his family members, and death and dismemberment threats, including to underage children, in the period between October 2014 and July 2015.