Court arrests four people after apologies for conflict in Zelenokumsk

Four persons have been arrested; the fifth suspect has been put on the wanted list within the case of attacking policemen at a cemetery in Zelenokumsk. The detainees’ apologies, who, according to Telegram channels, belong to the Roma community, were posted by the regional branches of Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in their resources.

The four people were detained for using violence dangerous to life and health of state officials (Part 2 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for up to 10 years of freedom deprivation); the court has arrested them until June 29. The whereabouts of the fifth suspect are being established.

The post is accompanied by a video, in which investigators ask three detainees whether they admit their guilt and repent of their actions. The men, whose faces are blurred in the video, answer in the affirmative.

In court, the investigator has stated that the need to place them into custody is due to the fact that the suspects may escape. One of the men said in the courtroom that he "asks for forgiveness."

The detainees had earlier apologized to law enforcers. Thus, on April 30, a video was posted in the MIA’s Telegram channel, the first frames of which show footage of a brawl of law enforcers with some men at the cemetery; and then one of the suspects, whose face is blurred in the video, apologizes.

"I ask the Russian policemen and residents for forgiveness, for the fact that yesterday at the cemetery in ‘Dormash’ we behaved incorrectly," says one of the men.

Another detainee has also apologized. "I ask citizen-employees living in Zelenokumsk for forgiveness. What we did at the cemetery – we did bad things. I ask to forgive me," it follows from the record, posted by the MIA Branch for the Stavropol Territory in its Telegram channel.

As follows from the video record of the conflict at the cemetery, which was posted by the “Bloknot Stavropol” outlet, a crowd of people, including women, gathered around three law enforcers. One of the men shouted, advancing on the policemen. "Why won't you let us sit in peace?" he asked. The law enforcers initially answered quietly. "Because this is a public place, people are in mourning; and there is no need to have a drinking party here," one of the law enforcers then shouted back.

After that, the camera moved away for a few seconds. The following footage shows that some substance was sprayed from the side where the policemen were standing; and a brawl broke out. In particular, the law enforcers hit the man who asked the above question; and other people gathered began beating the policemen up.

In total, nine persons were detained; administrative protocols were drawn up against them, the MIA reported on April 30. The "Bloknot Stavropol", as well as the “Baza”, “Mash” and “Readovka” Telegram channels, reported that they were members of the Roma community.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 3, 2025 at 01:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.