Five police officers suspected of torturing and killing a man in their custody in the central Russian republic of Tatarstan were detained on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
“The five suspects have just been detained,” he said.
The five have already been discharged from the police.
Sergei Nazarov, 52, died in custody on March 10, a day after being arrested in the republic’s capital of Kazan on charges of petty hooliganism. He was taken to hospital complaining of stomach pains and died soon after of intestinal injuries.
The investigators working on the case believe police did not have sufficient evidence to detain Nazarov.
The republic’s Interior Ministry said other people could also have suffered at the policemen’s hands.
Tatarstan Interior Minister Asgat Safarov has suspended 13 officers over the case and pledged to punish severely anyone found guilty of involvement in Nazarov’s death.
