Moscow Policeman Jailed for 9 Years for Shooting Tajik

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Moscow Policeman Jailed for 9 Years for Shooting Tajik

Mosnews
September 23, 2005

A Moscow policeman who shot a Tajik man in the mouth has been sentenced to nine years in prison.

Boris Kostruba, who earlier served in the Moscow metro police, was charged with attempted murder, abuse of his office and storage of illegal arms. The prosecutor asked for nine years and the Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow satisfied his request on Friday.

On July 31, 2004, Kostruba shot a 20-year-old migrant worker from Tajikistan, Rustam Baibekov, in the mouth for attempting to enter a subway station without paying the correct fare. Bainekov attempted to enter the station together with his friend by paying only for one person. According to the investigation, Kostruba detained Baibekov, found he had no Moscow registration, started demanding money from him and after a refusal shot him in the mouth. The sergeant was detained immediately after the incident.

Baibekov survived after being taken to the hospital. The bullet hit his neck and passed out over his shoulder-blade.

After the incident, senior subway police officers lost their posts. The head of the criminal police of the Moscow subway Valery Motorin was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel Aleksander Prokopovich. The head of the personnel and training department Leontiy Slavikovsky was replaced by Colonel Nikolai Moiseyev. The head of the investigative department of the subway criminal police was also replaced.

Police in Moscow routinely stop people from the Caucasus and Central Asia for document checks.


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