MOSCOW – A Moscow court has convicted a former police district chief of killing two people in a supermarket shooting and sentenced him to life in prison, casting an even darker shadow over a scandal-hit force.
Russians were stunned by security camera footage showing a uniformed Major Denis Yevsyukov (32) stalking the supermarket aisles last April firing gunshots. Prosecutors said one of the victims was a female cashier he shot point-blank in the face. He was also convicted on 22 counts of attempted murder for the late-night rampage in southern Moscow, in which seven people were also wounded.
Authorities have said the shootings occurred after Yevsyukov had argued violently with his wife and father-in-law following his 32nd birthday party last April.
When judge Nikolai Fomin read out his life sentence, Yevsyukov, sitting in a glass box with his head bowed, did not flinch. Heavily armed police encircled him throughout the hearing.
Police violence and corruption scandals over the past year have deepened Russians’ distrust of law enforcement authorities.
On Thursday the Kremlin pushed through a police reform, though critics say it merely touches the surface of a deeply troubled system.
Yesterday, lawyer Igor Trunov, who represents two of the wounded from the shooting spree, said he has sent a complaint against the Russian state to the European Court of Human Rights, as he believes Russia does not protect its citizens. If the Strasbourg-based court accepts the complaint, the wounded will have to prove the state played a role in harming them, after which the court will then issue Russia with an order to investigate.
President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed 18 high-ranking interior ministry officials on Thursday and told police chiefs the violence and scandals had undermined their authority with the Russian people. – (Reuters)