November 27, 2009 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Nov 27, 2009

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TODAY: Police force under fire as new story of police violence emerges; government-sponsored TV ‘hampering democracy’, Belykh running Kirov, law permits bullying of NGOs, Samizdat listed as ‘extremist’, blogger sentenced to jail; Georgia, France, US. Space tourism.
A senior Russian lawmaker and member of United Russia called for the abolition of the Interior Ministry, or at least that it be cut in half in to ‘decommission and cleanse‘ an institution that is coming under increasing fire.  Speaking after a second incident of police killing civilians emerged this week, Russia’s interior minister said that the law prohibiting the use of violence against police in self-defense should be scrapped.  ‘If the citizen is not a criminal who is being detained and has not broken any laws…if he is being attacked, self-defense is applicable here.‘  He was also quoted as saying that violent police should be ‘isolated and jailed‘.  Alexander Smirnov, the deputy head of Russia’s prison service, says the death of Sergei Magnitsky ‘has left a serious stain on the entire work of our judicial system‘.  Things like this presumably don’t do much for its reputation, either.