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| Russia policeman guilty of murder | Russia policeman guilty of murder |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A Russian former police officer who shot dead two people at random in a Moscow supermarket last April has been sentenced to life in jail for murder. | A Russian former police officer who shot dead two people at random in a Moscow supermarket last April has been sentenced to life in jail for murder. |
| Denis Yevsyukov was convicted of two murders and 22 attempted murders. | Denis Yevsyukov was convicted of two murders and 22 attempted murders. |
| CCTV recorded the shooting, in which seven people were wounded. Prosecutors say he was drunk at the time. | CCTV recorded the shooting, in which seven people were wounded. Prosecutors say he was drunk at the time. |
| Friday's verdict came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced sweeping measures aimed at reforming the country's police force. | Friday's verdict came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced sweeping measures aimed at reforming the country's police force. |
| Mr Medvedev dismissed two deputy interior ministers and 16 police generals, as well as ordering the staff of the interior ministry police to be cut by half. | Mr Medvedev dismissed two deputy interior ministers and 16 police generals, as well as ordering the staff of the interior ministry police to be cut by half. |
| The trial was seen as a key test of the government's drive to tackle police violence. | The trial was seen as a key test of the government's drive to tackle police violence. |
| Yevsyukov is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison | |
| Yevsyukov, a former local police chief, wandered into the supermarket dressed in his uniform and walked around the shop shooting people at random. | |
| Moscow's police chief was sacked the day after the shooting, and several senior officers were suspended. | Moscow's police chief was sacked the day after the shooting, and several senior officers were suspended. |
| During the trial a lawyer for Yevsyukov, Tatiana Bushuyeva, suggested defining the shooting as an act of hooliganism, the news agency Itar-Tass reported. | During the trial a lawyer for Yevsyukov, Tatiana Bushuyeva, suggested defining the shooting as an act of hooliganism, the news agency Itar-Tass reported. |
| Intense interest | |
| Massive publicity has surrounded the case and Russians have been following it very closely, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports from Moscow. | |
| The defence was that Yevsyukov was not in his right state of mind. He was put under observation but psychiatrists said there was nothing wrong with him. | |
| Often such cases are pushed under the carpet or punishments are much reduced, our correspondent says. | |
| Many cases of police violence are still ongoing and this one could set a precedent, he adds. | |
| On Thursday President Medvedev castigated Russia's bloated police force for solving barely half the crimes it investigates. | |
| He said 2,000 murders and attempted murders go unsolved in Russia each year - a figure he called "frightening". | |
| He also alluded to the many crimes committed by the police themselves. | |
| The alleged crimes committed by Russian police officers last year alone range from murder and rape to drug-pushing and kidnapping, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Moscow. | |
| But analysts say chastising Russia's 1.4 million officers in public and firing a few top generals will do little to change the culture of abuse and corruption. |