Russia's 'YouTube policeman' held
By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Moscow
2010/01/22 15:50:05 GMT



A Russian police officer who posted a video on the internet alleging the police force in his home town was corrupt has been arrested.

Alexei Dymovsky, who became widely known after speaking out on video-sharing site YouTube in November, has been charged with fraud and corruption. Mr Dymovsky, from southern Russia, had already been fired from his job.

He had earlier said the authorities wanted to silence him and get revenge for what he had done.

In the video, he spoke out about corruption and illegal activities within the police force in his home town, saying he could no longer tolerate being told to arrest innocent people to meet monthly targets.

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He went on to make a direct appeal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to clean up the law enforcement agencies. It caused a sensation in a country where challenging the authorities is not only highly unusual, but can also prove to be extremely dangerous.

The video registered more than a million hits.

It will come as little surprise to people here that he has now been arrested on charges which carry a maximum of six years in prison.

When the charges were first brought against him, Mr Dymovsky told the Reuters news agency that the authorities wanted to silence him and get revenge for what he had done. Ironically, just days after he posted his video, the interior minister in charge of the nation's police force admitted it had been turned into a criminal business.