Moscow police officers who questioned a six-year-old boy at a protest rally might face prosecution for exceeding their authority, lawyers said.
A group of opposition activists tried to hold a rally on Triumfalnaya Square on November 1. Police officers saw a boy accompanied by a girl, who turned out to be on a missing persons list, and took both back to the station.
A police spokesperson said the father of the boy had been detained for attempting to hold an unsanctioned rally. He added that “the police did not detain the six-year old boy and the girl; they simply took them to the police station to determine their identity and return them to their parents.”
At the same time, the detained father, Sergei Aksyonov, wrote in his blog that the police officers “questioned” his son and drew up a protocol, a copy of which he posted on the Internet.
“The police committed many violations of the law,” lawyer Igor Bushmanov says. “First of all, a child cannot give a clear answer. Secondly, if the questioning was important, it should have been done in the presence of a legal representative of the child – a mother or a father or close relatives, or in the presence of a professional teacher. Also, it is important to clarify how the child got to the police station – was it voluntary or was he taken there by force.
Lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky agreed that in theory the police officers could face prosecution.
“As far as I know, the boy was taken to the police station with his babysitter, who is a friend of his parents. With all due respect, I doubt this woman is a professional teacher,” added the lawyer.
Not all the lawyers think that police officers violated the law. Lawyer Eduard Budanov does not think the boy was taken to the police station because they wanted to detain him. “If the boy was detained with his father it is quite logical that he was not left on the street. Probably, the child was being used as a 'shield' for his father at that moment,” the lawyer said.
“This story needs clarification. I have never heard of such a small boy being questioned by police,” Agranovsky said. If the police were guilty of exceeding their powers, they could face a minimum fine of 80,000 rubles or up to four years in prison.
“We are not going to leave this situation unpunished. We are going to be proactive,” said Aksyonov.
