3 Russian cops fired after being accused of raping 17yo national team volleyball player
Three Russian policemen are accused of raping a 17-year-old female beach volleyball player during a junior national championship in Anapa, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The Kremlin has described the alleged crime as "abhorrent."
The alleged incident took place last Sunday after the last competition of the national championship had ended in the Black Sea coast resort town.
The 17-year-old player, whose name has not been revealed, allegedly left the sports complex where the athletes were based to go on a date with a local man she met during the championship.
According to the report in local media, the couple were kissing on the beach when three police officers interrupted them and threatened them with arrest for inappropriate conduct in a public place.
The man reportedly fled the scene, but the three uniformed officers managed to capture the young athlete. They have since been named as sergeants Alin Kazanchi and Leonid Palanchuk, both 28, and 26-year-old senior sergeant Rustam Naniz, according to Telegram channel Baza.
It was then the alleged crime took place, with Kazanchi keeping a lookout while Palanchuk and Naniz forced the girl into sexual activity, under the threat of telling the player’s coach that she had been involved in 'obscene behavior in a public area'.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against the officers. Palanchuk and Naniz are facing criminal charges of rape, while Kazanchi allegedly did not take part in the crime, although all three have been relieved of their positions in the police force.
A social media post informed the girl's friend said that the girl returned to the team's base that evening, hid herself in her room and sobbed uncontrollably.
Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin denounced the crime as "abhorrent", and that definite criminal punishments will be brought to those in custody if found guilty.
Russia's president only on August 16 visited the beach volleyball arena in Anapa, visiting where the U-17 tournament was played and also the Voley Grad arena, the Russian volleyball federation headquarters.
