Disciplinary penalties imposed on many police officers over shooting incident

More than 30 police officers have faced dictionary penalties ranging from reprimand to dismissal over a shooting incident involving a policeman of the Rahachow district department.

An internal probe established poor performance on the part of the senior police staff of the Rahachow district and Homyel regional departments, Yury Dzyamyanchyk, head of the unit for high-profile investigations at the regional prosecutor’s office that is investigating the incident, told BelaPAN on Thursday.

The Rahachow district officer is suspected of fatally wounding a 22-year-old woman in the village of Dowsk late on July 6.

The man fired his pistol while in a police car, wounding the resident of the nearby village of Zhuravichy, the investigators say. The woman died from a non-penetrating head wound in intensive care 10 days later, never regaining consciousness.

Mr. Dzyamyanchyk said that “educational work” with the staff was poor at the district department.

Tne officer was under the influence of alcohol and another policeman was found to be absent for several hours without good reason during the internal probe, he said, noting that the former was dismissed and the latter was demoted.

As a result of the probe, two district officers received letters of severe reprimand, one was given a letter of reprimand and one more policeman was demoted.

Severe reprimands were also issued to the chief of staff and forensic examination and seven senior officers at the Rahachow district department, as well as to seven senior officers at the regional department and its chief.
The district police chief was demoted.

Three departmental heads at the interior ministry also received letters of reprimand.

The 30-year-old suspect, who joined the police in 1996, and his three colleagues who were in the car were sacked.

According to the investigators, the officer was drunk at the time of the incident. He had 1.8 per mille of alcohol in his blood. One more policeman in the car had two per miller of alcohol. The third policeman fled; his whereabouts were established two days later. The driver was not drunk.

The Homyel regional prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings under the Criminal Code’s Article 139 and 14 that penalize attempted murder.

Local residents celebrated Kupalle, Belarus’ folk midsummer holiday, in the village of Zhuravichy on the night between July 6 and 7. Officers of the Rahachow district were on duty there to prevent public order offenses.

Witnesses told BelaPAN that they saw the victim, an accountant at the Novyya Zhuravichy farm, and two other young women sitting into the police officers’ car to go to Dowsk.

One of the women said that the officer pressed his pistol against her friend’s head and discharged it, with the bullet entering the forehead. She said that the officer and the victim, Nina, knew each other well.

According to unconfirmed reports, the man, born in 1976, is a resident of the village of Dowsk and a member of the Kurhanye village soviet. He is reportedly married, has two children, and is known among his colleagues as a good person.