Russian police tortured extremism suspect: rights group

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

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Russian police in a Moscow suburb tortured a young man suspected of extremism, pulling off his fingernails and threatening to rape him with a truncheon, a rights group said on Tuesday.
 
Leading rights group Memorial said Farid Eldarov, who comes from the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, was tortured during questioning after being detained in a raid on March 8 apparently targeting suspected Islamist extremists.
 
It was the latest claim of police brutality after a male suspect died from a police beating and reported rape with a champagne bottle in the central Russian region of Tatarstan in a shocking case that prompted a top-level investigation.
 
Russia's Investigative Committee is looking into police violence after the shocking death of Sergei Nazarov, 52, in Tatarstan on March 10 prompted other victims to come forward.
 
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev denounced Nazarov's killing and seven officers at the station have been jailed pending trial during investigation of three cases of police brutality.