Accused rapist cop remains in custody

15 Dec, 2009 10:11 / Updated 14 years ago

A Moscow court has ruled a former traffic police officer, who has been charged with 14 counts of rape, should remain in custody.

Arthur Kositsyn, 32 was detained last week in the south of the city.

He is suspected of sex attacks dating back to March. Investigators say that Kositsyn may be responsible for about 20 rapes.

According to Russia’s Investigative Committee he has already been charged with "three rape attempts, four rapes and seven counts of coercive actions of sexual character” .

The head of the district road police, Sergey Sergeev, said that the police should choose their staff more carefully.

“We need to analyze whether we have done our best to rule deviations in his psyche,” he said. “Today I have once again set a task to learn how a candidate behaves in his family before he comes to work for our headquarters.”

It is the latest in a series of scandals shaking Russia's police, including a drunken shooting rampage by a police officer in a Moscow supermarket in April, which left 2 people dead and 7 wounded.