Wheelchair-bound man's claims of mistreatment by police being probed in Saratov
SARATOV. July 19 (Interfax) - An inquiry has been opened in the Russian city of Saratov into claims by a wheelchair-bound man who was allegedly beaten up by police officers.
"The man told investigators that he suffered bodily damage inflicted on him by unknown police officers at an intersection of Sokolovaya and Krainyaya Streets in Saratov early on July 18," the Russian Investigative Committee's branch for the Saratov region reported on Friday.
Investigators of Saratov's Kirovsky district were appointed to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the incident, it said.
A video was posted online recently showing a wheelchair-bound man who claims to be a former police officer and complains of mistreatment at the hands of policemen.
The man said that he was going to stage a rally outside the building housing the Saratov region's police headquarters. According to him, police officers approached his car and told him that they would check the car for the presence of weapons, drugs and other prohibited items.
The man said that the officers confiscated his passport and video camera.
"They twisted my arms and pushed me out of the car. They seized my wheelchair and threw it in another car. After which, they started to drag me along the pavement," he said.
The man claims that the officers then put him in a Zhiguli car and began to beat him.
