Russian journalist dies after beating by police officer
Human rights officials warn that the case is just one small story in a tapestry of alcoholism, police brutality and expectation of authoritative impunity that bedevils today's Russia.
By Megan K. Stack
LA Times
11:13 AM PST, January 20, 2010
Reporting from Moscow
A Russian journalist who was thrown into a Siberian drunk tank and savagely beaten by a young police officer died today, in a case that has sparked a national conversation about the latent alcoholism and casual violence that wind their way through life in this winter-hardened land.
Konstantin Popov was a little-known 47-year-old journalist who specialized in writing about economics. A few days into the new year, in the thick of a 10-day Russian holiday known for its debaucheries, Popov was arrested and thrown into the police holding cell reserved for the drunk and disorderly.
He was taken home the next day, but he had been beaten so badly his wife grew alarmed and took him to a hospital. He soon lapsed into a coma from severe damage to his internal organs.
Because Popov was a journalist, and because Russia is a country where not-uncommon attacks on journalists are carefully tracked, his death drew national attention. News conferences were called. The Tomsk drunk tank was closed down. The deputy police chief resigned, along with the supervisor of the holding cell. The police chief apologized. The young officer was arrested and confessed.
(More here.)
By Megan K. Stack
LA Times
11:13 AM PST, January 20, 2010
Reporting from Moscow
A Russian journalist who was thrown into a Siberian drunk tank and savagely beaten by a young police officer died today, in a case that has sparked a national conversation about the latent alcoholism and casual violence that wind their way through life in this winter-hardened land.
Konstantin Popov was a little-known 47-year-old journalist who specialized in writing about economics. A few days into the new year, in the thick of a 10-day Russian holiday known for its debaucheries, Popov was arrested and thrown into the police holding cell reserved for the drunk and disorderly.
He was taken home the next day, but he had been beaten so badly his wife grew alarmed and took him to a hospital. He soon lapsed into a coma from severe damage to his internal organs.
Because Popov was a journalist, and because Russia is a country where not-uncommon attacks on journalists are carefully tracked, his death drew national attention. News conferences were called. The Tomsk drunk tank was closed down. The deputy police chief resigned, along with the supervisor of the holding cell. The police chief apologized. The young officer was arrested and confessed.
(More here.)
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