The leader of Russia's North Caucus republic of Ingushetia admitted on Thursday to failing to fight corruption, citing "unscrupulousness" on the part of some judges.
Yunus-Bek Yevkurov returned to Ingushetia, one of Russia's poorest regions and situated in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, in August after being treated in Moscow for extensive injuries he sustained during a suicide car bomb attack on his motorcade in June.
"There are no results... I am very dissatisfied with this work, the fight against corruption," the Ingush president said.
He complained of judges who let embezzlers go with fines of up to 300,000 rubles ($9,800) and described them as criminals worse than a dozen Chechen militants put together.
"It's turned out that judges are immune and have the right to everything, while no laws are applicable against them," Yevkurov said.
He said he had stripped five judges of their powers jointly with the chairman of the Ingush Supreme Court last year, and another five judges lost their positions in 2009.
Yevkurov warned judges and also some investigators who he said were working "incorrectly" that every effort would be done to make them "work honestly," and pledged that the fight against corruption would be followed through.
In October, Yevkurov dismissed the government due to corruption and the Cabinet's failure to tackle socio-economic problems and corruption.
Ingushetia has been hit by a series of high-profile attacks on troops, police and other officials recently. Violence has been linked to separatists in neighboring Chechnya and local inter-clan rivalry.
MOSCOW, December 24 (RIA Novosti)
