Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on police brutality in the US

The new police shooting of a black resident, Charley Saturmin Robinet, an unarmed and mentally ill homeless person in Los Angeles the other day, testifies to the serious deterioration of the US human rights situation. Local racial minorities and other citizens increasingly fall victim to police brutality that thrives in an atmosphere of total impunity encouraged by the top political echelon.

An illustration of this is the recent Department of Justice report confirming that Ferguson’s police and municipal court practices both reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias, including racial stereotypes. A white police officer shot and killed an African American teen, Michael Brown, without a motive in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, an incident that sparked nationwide protests. Forced to admit gross police misbehavior, the Obama administration left it at that, with neither the officer not his direct superiors held liable. This can only lead to further lawlessness and abuse of civil liberties and civil rights in American society.

We call on Washington to urgently conduct a thorough investigation into police killings and to bring the offenders to justice.