MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Prosecutors are investigating over 20 criminal cases brought against federal policemen and servicemen suspected in committing crimes against Chechen civilians, Sergei Fridinsky, Russia's deputy prosecutor general in charge of the Southern federal district, told Interfax- Military News Agency on Thursday.
The prosecutors areinvestigating 13 cases against policemen, Fridinsky said. According to him, 12 criminal cases against policemen were sent to courts last year, and 20 policemen were brought to justice for illegal actions in Chechnya. "Several cases have been considered by court and people have been convicted," Fridinsky added.
"Over 10 criminal cases against servicemen who committed similar crimes were sent to courts last year, and all of them were convicted," Fridinsky stressed.
Speaking about the rate of crimes against civilians, he said that there had been "no rapid increases," and the situation was stable.
"It is certainly very bad and saddening that federal servicemen commit crimes against civilians, but it happens not only in Chechnya, but in other republics as well. Two paratroopers who have recently gone AWOL in the Ulyanovsk region have killed 10 people, and such things do not happen in Chechnya every day," the deputy prosecutor general said.
Vladimir Kalamanov, presidential ombudsman in Chechnya, told Interfax last week that 42 servicemen who had committed crimes against Chechen civilians were brought to justice in the past two years.
At the same time, the ombudsman praised prosecutors saying that the only thing that he liked in Chechnya was the determination of the prosecutor's office in the republic.