A Moscow court today convicted a former police district chief of killing two people in a supermarket shooting and sentenced him to life in prison.
Russians were stunned by security camera footage showing Major Denis Yevsyukov, 32, stalking the supermarket aisles last April and firing gunshots. Prosecutors said one of the victims was a female cashier he shot in the face.
He was also convicted on 22 counts of attempted murder for the late-night rampage in southern Moscow, which also wounded seven people.
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 today, Yevsyukov, sitting in a glass box with his head bowed, did not flinch.
Police violence and corruption scandals over the past year have deepened Russians' distrust of law enforcement authorities.
President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed 18 high-ranking Interior Ministry officials yesterday and announced details of a police reform plan that is to include a 20 per cent cut in the 1.4-million member ministry.
Mr Medvedev told police chiefs the violence and scandals had undermined their authority with the Russian people, many of whom see the police as a corruption-ridden, untrustworthy force.
Kremlin critics say Mr Medvedev's promises to fight corruption and improve the rule of law in Russia have had little practical effect since he was steered into the presidency by Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, in 2008.
Reuters