The independent trade union of Interior Ministry and prosecutor's office employees in Daghestan has addressed a
written request
to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and to Federation Council Chairman
Sergei Mironov to fire Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of the Investigative
Committee of the federal Prosecutor-General's Office.
Their
rationale for that demand, as explained by the union's chairman,
Magomed Shamilov, to Caucasus Knot, was the proposal Bastrykin floated
last week at a meeting of top prosecutor's office staff that Medvedev
attended, to create a database containing the fingerprints of the
entire North Caucasus population.
Russian human rights activists immediately
condemned
that proposal as discriminatory; Chechen Republic human rights
ombudsman Nurdi Nukhadjiyev termed it anticonstitutional and a
violation of citizens' rights. But Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov
said it was "normal."
The Daghestan police and prosecutor's
office staffers implied that they too consider the proposal
discriminatory. Union Chairman Shamilov pointed out that "we are
citizens of Russia just like Bastrykin," and as such deserve respect. A
senior Makhachkala police officer argued that Bastrykin's proposal
risks fuelling ethnic tensions.
In their joint letter to
Medvedev and Mironov, the officers elaborate on that point, arguing
that Bastrykin's attitude and statements suggest that he is prone to
equate certain ethnic groups, primarily those from the North Caucasus,
with "criminals, bandits, and extremists."
Nizam Radjabov, the spokesman for the Daghestan prosecutor's office, has declined to comment on his colleagues' initiative.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Daghestan_Police_Ask_Medvedev_To_Fire_Top_Investigator/1980030.html