In November 2015, St. Petersburg police officer Andrei Artemyev met with an informant in his office. Artemyev was drunk, and before long he removed his service weapon from his holster and started waving it around. Then he accidentally shot and killed the informant.
State prosecutors charged Artemyev with abusing his authority and misusing his firearm, asking that he be sentenced to 12 years in prison. This Thursday, however, a judge convicted the officer of the lesser offense of criminal negligence, sentencing him to just a year and nine months behind bars (minus the year he’s already spent in pretrial detention).
According to the Fontanka news agency, Artemyev shot Dmitry Demidov in the head and tried to conceal evidence of his actions, immediately afterwards. Forensics experts found that Demidov’s body had been moved twice, before officers arrived at the crime scene. The head prosecutor in the case also says Artemyev hid his alcohol glasses, packed up his firearm holster, and washed off Demidov’s blood, before he called for help.
Prosecutors and representatives of the victim have not yet said if they plan to appeal the verdict.
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