The Investigative Committee's Moscow branch opened a criminal investigation Wednesday into allegations that traffic police stopped several cars to form a "human shield" across a road as they attempted to detain a petty thief.
The incident early Friday came to light after one of the drivers posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) alleging that traffic police pulled him over and ordered him to park his Mercedes lengthwise on the Moscow Ring Road.
He and another driver were told to remain in their vehicles, which were damaged when a silver Audi slammed into both and drove off. The Mercedes driver, Stanislav Sutyagin, said the police told him that no compensation would be paid, despite extensive damage to his vehicle, because the suspect had not been caught.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that it opened the criminal case after concluding a preliminary investigation.
"The role of each of the police officers in this incident will be investigated and determined. The necessary investigative measures are being conducted to gather and confirm evidence of the police officers' guilt," the statement said.
The officers were not identified in the statement. If charged and convicted of abuse of authority, they would face up to four years in prison under Article 285 of the Criminal Code.
Earlier Wednesday, Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev fired the supervisor of the officers accused in the incident, issued a harsh warning to the city's top traffic cop, Sergei Kazantsev, and apologized to the drivers, Interfax reported, citing Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov.
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