The Russian Interior Ministry says the entire leadership of a district police department in Moscow has been fired.
The action, targeting the Khoroshevo-Mnevniki district police, follows the arrest earlier in the day of three of the department's police officers on suspicion of murdering an Azerbaijani citizen.
The deputy chief of the Interior Affairs Department in Moscow's northwestern region also has been dismissed over the case.
The three police officers are suspected of killing an Azerbaijani national in September and trying to sell his car.
They also allegedly demanded a ransom of 150,000 euros ($190,000) from the victims' relatives.
Earlier in the day, the ministry said a fourth person -- described as an “unemployed acquaintance” of the officers -- was also detained in connection with the case.
Prominent Russian human rights defender, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, said the incident clearly shows that problems in Russia's law-enforcement structures remain, despite government's widely announced police reforms this year.
The action, targeting the Khoroshevo-Mnevniki district police, follows the arrest earlier in the day of three of the department's police officers on suspicion of murdering an Azerbaijani citizen.
The deputy chief of the Interior Affairs Department in Moscow's northwestern region also has been dismissed over the case.
The three police officers are suspected of killing an Azerbaijani national in September and trying to sell his car.
They also allegedly demanded a ransom of 150,000 euros ($190,000) from the victims' relatives.
Earlier in the day, the ministry said a fourth person -- described as an “unemployed acquaintance” of the officers -- was also detained in connection with the case.
Prominent Russian human rights defender, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, said the incident clearly shows that problems in Russia's law-enforcement structures remain, despite government's widely announced police reforms this year.
