Police in the Far East have dismissed claims that its officers beat up suspected salmon poachers, burned their clothes and made them march naked to their homes.
Officers detained four suspected poachers during a raid along the Narva River in Primorye, the region's police department said in a statement Friday.
After confiscating the group's equipment and giving them a warning, the police let the suspects go, the ministry's statement said.
However, one of the suspected poachers filed a complaint, alleging that masked police officers had beaten up him and his friends, Interfax reported
Regional investigators said that three police officers were also accused of incinerating the suspects' clothes and making the fishermen wade across the river to go home.
The Primorye police said that an internal investigation found that witnesses' accounts of the incident were inconsistent and ruled that the officers hadn't exceed their authority.
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