The Global Citizens urged Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma, to initiate the removal from Mr. Alexander Zakuskin, head of the Meshchansky Municipal District of Moscow, Russia, for actions that violate human and civil rights and freedoms.
The message reads, in part:
We are deeply concerned by the evidence that in Russia, officials can spray gas canisters in the faces of citizens of the Russian Federation with impunity. The reaction of the Russian authorities to what happened requires the immediate and public prosecution of the perpetrator.
What used to be:
On February 10, the head of the Council of Deputies of the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Alexander Zakuskin, sprayed pepper spray into the eyes of a 69-year citizen of the Russian Federation, Salima Yusupkhadzhieva.
To date, the official is trying to avoid criminal responsibility, convincing everyone that this is an ordinary domestic conflict.
According to open-source information on first-instance criminal cases, those who had previously committed such illegal acts were prosecuted and received actual sentences.
We do not assume that Mr. Alexander Zakuskin, as a person who has been engaged in human rights activities for a long time, a Ph.D. in law, a volunteer who has received commendations from the Russian authorities, which is how he positions himself on his official Internet resources, will avoid criminal responsibility, given his status as a representative of the Russian authorities.
RU