Criminal case opened in the Urals after video of a PE teacher beating a ninth-grader

Criminal case opened after video

A criminal case has been opened in Sverdlovsk Region after a video appeared showing a man, believed to be a PE teacher, using force against a ninth-grader. This was reported by the regional Investigative Committee office (Life.ru). The footage shows the teacher shaking the teenager by his clothes and hitting the kneeling schoolboy. The investigative department for the city of Zarechny opened the case to establish all circumstances: investigators are questioning witnesses and ordering expert examinations.

What is known about the incident

According to preliminary data from the prosecutor's office, the conflict broke out on November 9 during a class hour at the fourth lesson in the Beloyarsky district; the PE teacher is also the class teacher of the injured schoolboy. According to witnesses, the teacher made the pupil kneel, grabbed him by the hair and then struck him. The video was filmed by one of the teenagers present in the classroom, and the recording later spread on social media. Pupils say the immediate trigger for the quarrel was a remark about a discipline violation, but the official causes of the incident have not yet been established.

Discrepancies in the accounts

Details of the incident differ across publications. Gazeta.Ru , citing the Ural Mash channel, describes the conflict as having taken place in Kosulino during a PE lesson: the teacher allegedly scolded the ninth-grader for misbehaving, grabbed him by the collar, shook him, hit him on the back and made him kneel. Life.ru, citing the prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee, speaks of a class hour in the Beloyarsky district and of a grab by the hair. According to Gazeta.Ru, the teacher himself refused to comment on the situation. The class monitor told the channel that the teacher was 'simply tired of putting up with the circus' the teenager was staging; pupils, however, claim this is not the first such incident with this teacher.

Checks and context

After the video was published, the Beloyarsky interdistrict prosecutor's office launched a check: the oversight body intends to assess the school staff's actions in terms of compliance with requirements for protecting the life and health of minors. An internal review has been organized at the school itself; a final legal assessment of the teacher's actions will be given based on the results of the investigation. Life.ru also recalls other recent conflicts in schools: in Nizhny Novgorod Region a pupil threw a chair at a teacher, injuring his hand, while at a lyceum in the Moscow region a PE teacher put a schoolboy in a chokehold and called him a dog.