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Rimsky’s statement was published online on February 2. In it, the police lieutenant says that after the court’s decision to impose a prison sentence on A. Navalnas, he can no longer work in the police force.
“I never cared which side the force was on. For me, as a police officer, all that mattered was which side the truth was on. And I cannot call the justice of such court decisions correct. This is the simplest joke of all of us.
The authorities are demonstratively fooling around, carrying out political repression without hiding. Unfortunately, the time has come when it is simply no longer possible to stay away, ”says S. Rimskis.
He also argues that colleagues who follow the same principles are also resigning from the police force.
A former police officer, IvanovoNews, revealed that two months ago he was fired from his post as an inspector of a remand prison, but had the opportunity to remain in the service.
“Only then did I decide that the political situation had changed and I could no longer stay with the police,” says S. Rimskis.
“I have always taken an active civic stance, which was not to the liking of the management, but I was looking forward to something that could be changed within the system. At first, they wanted to force me to voluntarily resign or try to fire me for unfavorable public messages, as happened to Ruslan Agibalov, “he told the Russian BBC service about the situation.
According to him, this idea did not burn out, so he reduced the number of working hours to give a hint that it is time to quit.
“I could try to move to work somewhere else, but on January 23rd. I went to a rally, I saw videos filmed in other cities and I realized that that would be enough. I felt uncomfortable and disgusting inside, so on the first day of work, January 25, I requested the dismissal, ”said the former official.
“And I wanted to make the video on purpose to show people that not all policemen are scoundrels, that there are good people. I also wanted to encourage other policemen who are not alien to my point of view. Perhaps this video will also encourage them to do a difference in their lives, ”S. Rimskis said of her video.
Speaking of the protests, which were brutally suppressed by force structures, the man said without hesitation that no one had given specific orders to brutally beat or use an electric shock.
“OMON units and two operational regiments are deployed in Moscow, whose main task is to pursue people. I am convinced that before those rallies, it is clear to them that it is possible to use violence, to use an electric shock, and this will not cause no problem, ”he told the BBC.
“And to use or not to use, in a particular situation, each officer makes a decision. Maybe he didn’t want to hit anything with a stick. I believe that many officials are not ahead of such actions. On the other hand, when arriving at a rally, when the conflict begins to escalate and clashes arise, emotions and violence erupt. Maybe at first he didn’t want to be violent, but there was a commotion, an official started beating something, the protesters started to defend themselves, so he had to stop with a colleague, and a chain reaction started, “S. Rimskis I tried to understand.
“It just came to our knowledge then. When they go to the rallies and the leadership gives the order to brutally evict those gathered, the officers must realize how things will end. Fortunately, they never took me to the rallies,” he said.
Rimsky is the second Interior Ministry employee to leave the police in Russia during the mass protests.
Earlier, Kursk Police Major Ruslan Agibalov posted a video online expressing his support for Navaln and other Russian political prisoners, including the former governor of the Khabarovsk region, Sergei Furgal.
That same day, the policeman was fired: it was reported that this had been done “for an act that degraded the honor of an employee of the interior agencies.”
In an interview with Current Time, Agibalov said his actions were supported by “many colleagues.”
“A lot of people say, ‘You go against the system, it will ruin you.’ But I think it is better to do it than not do it and feel even more sorry, “he said.
The Kremlin justifies the brutal actions
On Wednesday, the Kremlin stood up to defend brutal actions by law enforcement against protesters demanding the release of opposition leader A. Navalna, and his supporters vowed to keep up the pressure on the government.
Independent observers reported that more than 10,000. People have been detained during protests across the country in recent days in support of the Kremlin’s most famous critic.
On Tuesday, the court sentenced Navalns to nearly three years in prison. Following the verdict, opposition supporters took to the streets in the center of the capital Moscow. Riot police stalked the protesters and arrested people en masse.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that “the unauthorized protests were a cause for concern and justified repression against the police.”
The mass protests in more than a hundred Russian cities were sparked by Navaln’s arrest on January 17. The opposition was arrested at the Moscow airport less than an hour after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was being treated for his nerve-paralyzing substance Novičiok, developed by Soviet scientists after his poisoning last summer.
On Tuesday, the court ruled that the 44-year-old anti-corruption activist would have to spend two years and eight months behind bars for violating the terms of a probation sentence imposed on him in a 2014 embezzlement case. A. Navaln claims that those accusations were only a pretext to silence him.
This case is one of the most serious challenges for the Kremlin in recent years, with some Western politicians demanding new sanctions on Moscow.
However, Navaln’s imprisonment will also weaken the Russian opposition movement, which will be left without its best-known figure, whose assistants have also been detained by the police.
However, Leonid Volkov, head of Navalno’s regional network, said that when the court issued the verdict, “everything is just beginning.”
“We will increase the pressure [prezidentui Vladimirui] Putin … New investigations will appear, new rallies and peaceful marches will be organized, “he wrote on the platform’s Telegram channel.
“Hard arrests”
Two days after the opposition’s arrest, his team announced an investigation into a luxury property on the Black Sea that Navaln said was turned over to Putin under a billion-dollar scheme funded by his leading close allies in state companies.
The study was published alongside a YouTube video that was viewed by more than 100 million people. together.
The arrest of A. Navaln and this investigation led tens of thousands of Russians to take to the streets for two consecutive weekends to protest.
OVD Info, an independent group that monitors opposition protests, said on Wednesday that police had detained more than 10,000 people during those rallies and demonstrations following Tuesday’s verdict. persons.
Grigory Durnov, an analyst at OVD Info, told AFP that many detainees faced “difficult conditions”. According to him, the authorities are deliberately carrying out “harsh arrests” and talc on protesters.
Mr. Durnovo pointed out that lawyers for OVD Info, who provide free legal assistance to protesters, cannot access detention centers.
The authorities “openly demonstrate that the lawyer is considered an accomplice of the criminal,” he said.
Echoing testimonies posted on social media from people detained during recent protests, Durnovo said that detention centers in Moscow were overcrowded.
On Tuesday, the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Commission ordered inspections of the detainees and whether they had performed compulsory military service. In Russia, military service is compulsory for all men between the ages of 18 and 27.
Navaln’s arrest and brutal police action against the protesters have been strongly condemned by international human rights organizations and Western countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
“By carrying out its vendetta against Navalna and her supporters, the Russian government has dispelled the last vestiges of the visibility of justice and respect for human rights,” Amnesty International said in a statement released on Tuesday.
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