Former riot police officer Vadim Boyko, who received a suspended sentence on Monday for beating a protester at an anti-government rally, hopes to return to police work again, the Izvestia daily said on Tuesday.
Vadim Boyko called protesters at the rally on July 31, 2010, "ferrets," and asked: "Who wants more?" as he beat an activist over the head with his baton. Video footage of the incident spread virally over the Internet, and Boyko was nicknamed "Pearl Praporshchik" (a rank in the Russian army equivalent to ensign) because of a pearl bracelet he was seen wearing.
On Monday Boyko was sentenced to three and a half years of suspended sentence and barred from working in law enforcement for two years.
"I'm a retiree, and my monthly pension in 6,700 rubles [$217]. So I will have to find a job. But I still have hopes of returning to police work," he said. "That's why I want to have my sentence overturned... I need to go back to work. Police work is my life."
He said he had no political preferences.
"Police work is beyond politics. What if I also have my views and disagree with something? But there is no way all this screaming and shouting can be taken seriously. Such methods lead to nothing," he said.
