The Komi State Council has appointed a police colonel, head of the press service of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs as Ombudsman

The Komi State Council has approved Vera Zheleztsova as the regional commissioner for human rights, police colonel and head of the press service of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, informs “7×7”.

As the newspaper writes, earlier the candidacy of Zheleztsova was approved by the federal ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova. At the same time, during a meeting of the State Council, some deputies said that it would be difficult for a person after working in law enforcement agencies to reorganize to defend human rights.

So, in particular, the deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Viktor Vorobyov said that after a long work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zheleztsova will find it difficult as an ombudsman, since in this position it is necessary to resolve conflicts of citizens, including with law enforcement agencies. The MP added that the Ombudsman is an institution of state human rights protection and civil society, so a human rights defender is better suited for this position than a former policeman.

Another deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Bratenkov, supported the opinion of his colleague and stressed that in Russia, when appointing to various positions, there is a bias in favor of the security officials, who, in turn, are subordinate to the authorities. At the same time, both deputies said that they had no complaints against Zheleztsova personally.

Earlier, according to “7×7”, at a meeting with the deputies, Vera Zheleztsova herself noted that the police solve even those problems of citizens that are not within their competence. “The fact that we are solving these problems is the same as protecting rights. We both punish and protect the rights of people “, – led the words of Zheleztsova local edition of “BNK”.

At the same time, in an interview with 7×7, she stated that the publication had conveyed her words incorrectly. “I said the phrase differently. How do we punish people? Administratively, in criminal cases, the court imposes a punishment if a person is guilty of something. We do not punish the rights of people <...>. We very often went to the districts and conducted public opinion polls on the activities of the police. And I understand that somewhere else since the 1930s, the opinion about the internal affairs bodies was that it was a punitive body. But this is far from the case. It is also an organ that helps in many ways, ”Zheleztsova emphasized in a conversation with 7×7.

In the organs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel Vera Zheleztsova in various positions, in total, served at least 20 years. In particular, according to “7×7”, she worked in the inspection for minors and the traffic police, and for 13 years she was the head of the information and public relations department of the Komi Ministry of Internal Affairs.