Ex-Police Officer Beats Two with Club in Ilovlya

Two men from the district center of Ilovlya in Volgograd Region sustained serious injuries in a street attack. The aggressors were two individuals, one of whom previously served in the police. The victims also suggested that these same individuals may be connected to the brutal beating of a group of schoolchildren in a neighboring settlement.

The incident occurred on the night of February 13-14 near a skating rink on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street. One of the victims recounted that they initially mistook one of the men for an acquaintance. «We called out to him, he started approaching closer—it turned out we were mistaken,» the man recalled. «He began to show aggression. We walked away from him about four times. And then he started beating my friend: first with his hands, then with his feet.»

Soon, a second attacker joined the assault, armed with an object resembling a club or bat. «I didn»t have time to call the police, the second one appeared from somewhere. We tried to get away from them, but they caught up and continued beating us,« the victim is quoted as saying. »They mainly finished us off with blows to the head with the club. By morning, I called an ambulance: my friend was taken to Volgograd, but I didn«t go to the hospital, I acted heroically.»

The press service of the healthcare committee of the Volgograd Region administration declined to provide information on the condition of the hospitalized individuals. The press secretary of the governor«s office, Alena Strelina, stated that such questions fall under the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies. The owner of a cafe opposite the scene confirmed that police seized footage from surveillance cameras, but he did not know the details.

Later, the victims learned that they were attacked by a father and son. The younger one, according to some reports, is a former patrol officer. The men do not rule out that the aggressors may be relatives of those already detained in the case of the beating of schoolchildren in the hamlet of Krasnodonsky, located about 14 kilometers from Ilovlya.

In Krasnodonsky, a man was recently arrested who is accused of organizing the beating of four tenth-graders at a disco. According to the investigation, he hired boxers to punish the teenagers for a conflict with his son. It was reported that the boy boasted about his father«s »connections.«

One of the suspects in the attack in Ilovlya transferred 2,500 rubles (about $28 at current rates) to the victim«s account with the note »for food.« When journalists tried to contact him, he refused to talk and hung up the calls. »I think they are trying to buy off while the second victim is in the hospital, to hush everything up quickly. This is Ilovlya, everything here is done in its own way. We sent the money back to him,« the victim stated.

An official inquiry regarding the progress of the investigation into this incident, the possible role of the former police officer, and the alleged connection to the schoolchildren case was sent to the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (GU MVD) for the Volgograd Region. At the time of preparing the information, no response had been received from the agency.