MOSCOW, Sept 13 (AFP) - Moscow officials began a probe Monday into alleged police violence against a former cosmonaut of Caucasian origin who has accused two officers of beating him up and verbally abusing him, media reported.
Prosecutors quoted by the Interfax news agency said that the two officers faced possible charges for "abuse of authority" after the attack on Magomed Tolboyev, who trained as a cosmonaut in the 1990s but was never launched into space, last Wednesday.
Tolboyev, who comes from the southern republic of Dagestan and has been decorated as a Hero of the Russian Federation, was questioned Monday along with the police officers.
He charged that he suffered spinal injuries after he was stopped for an identity check in a Moscow metro station and was beaten up because of his appearance and Chechen-sounding name.
The incident raises further concerns about the risk of racially-motivated attacks in the Russian capital after the school hostage tragedy in the southern Russian town of Beslan, which was blamed on rebels from the Caucasus republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya.