ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 13 The Essentuki City Court authorized the arrest of police officers and residents of the Rostov region, who, according to investigators, have been collecting bribes since 2015 from entrepreneurs, according to the official Telegram channel of the courts of the Stavropol Territory.
«In respect of 23 persons, the court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention for a period of 2 months. In respect of one person, a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest was chosen,» the report says.
As reported by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, since July 2015, a criminal group has been operating in Rostov, led by Dmitry Rybalko, ex-deputy chief of police for public order protection of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the region. It consisted of local residents, as well as employees of the head office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The gang collected monthly «tribute» — from 3,000 to 50,000 rubles — from violating entrepreneurs for not bringing them to administrative responsibility. In total, members of the criminal community received bribes totaling at least 25 million rubles, according to the investigation.
A criminal case was initiated under articles on organizing and participating in a criminal community and taking a bribe on an especially large scale.