Former police officer near Volgograd accused of brutally beating two passersby

Residents of the district center Ilovlya in the Volgograd region sustained numerous injuries after being brutally beaten on the street by two men, one of whom turned out to be a former police officer. Moreover, the victims suspect that both attackers may be involved in a previous brutal beating of schoolchildren in a neighboring settlement.

As one of the injured men told a V1.RU correspondent, the attack on them was carried out on the night of February 13–14 near the skating rink on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street.

«We were walking and thought it was an acquaintance. We called out to him, he started coming closer — it turned out we were mistaken,» the man recalls. «He started showing aggression. We tried to get away from him about four times. And then he started beating my friend: first with his hands, then with his feet.»

According to the victim, a second man quickly joined the beating, holding a club or a bat.

«I didn»t have time to call the police, the second one showed up from somewhere. We tried to get away from them, but they caught up and kept beating us,« the victim says. »They were mainly finishing us off with blows to the head with a club. By morning, I called an ambulance: my friend was taken to Volgograd, and I didn«t go to the hospital, I acted like a hero.»

It was not possible to obtain information about the condition of the victims from the Health Committee of the Volgograd Region Administration: Alena Strelina, an employee of the press service of the Volgograd Region governor«s office responsible for communication with the health committee, refused to provide information about the patients» condition, stating that issues related to unlawful acts are within the competence of law enforcement agencies.

The administrator of the cafe opposite which the attack on the passersby occurred said that police came to collect footage from surveillance cameras, but he does not know the details of the beating.

As the victims later found out, they were attacked by a father and son, the younger of whom is allegedly a former patrol service officer. They do not rule out that the men may be involved in the brutal beating of a group of schoolchildren in Krasnodonsky, as they are relatives of the already detained initiators of the conflict.

The Krasnodonsky settlement is located about 14 kilometers from Ilovlya. Recently, a man was arrested there who, according to the prosecution, hired boxers who beat four 10th graders unconscious at a holiday disco. Thus, according to locals, he tried to punish the guys for a conflict with his son, with whom the victims allegedly had a quarrel the day before. It is said that the boy with whom the victims had a conflict repeatedly boasted about his father«s »connections.«

Later, presumably one of the attackers transferred 2,500 rubles (about $28 at current rates) to the victim«s account with the note »from *** (sender«s name) for food.» A V1.RU correspondent tried to contact the sender, but he refused to communicate and repeatedly hung up on subsequent calls.

«I think they are trying to buy us off while the other victim is in the hospital, to hush everything up quickly. This is Ilovlya, we do things our own way. We sent the money back to him,» said the victim.

The V1.RU editorial board requested information about the beating of Ilovlya residents, the possible involvement of a former police officer, and the attackers« connection to the beating of schoolchildren in Krasnodonsky from the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Volgograd Region (GU MVD). No response had been received by the time of publication.