MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI) – The Interior Ministry is drafting a regulation under which the police would be obliged to issue an apology to those who are arrested by mistake, ministry spokesman Andrei Pilipchuk told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

He said the idea had been put up for public discussion and that the ministry would take people’s proposals into account. Anton Tsvetkov, Deputy Chairman of the Public Council under the Interior Ministry’s Main Department for Moscow, said it was a good idea.  “The current procedure is to release those who were arrested by mistake, thinking that they should be happy to be free,” he said. “But it would be civil to apologize to those who were arrested without good reason.”

“This is part of human interaction. Police officers must remember that they work with [presumably innocent] people and should treat them accordingly. And the people will see that the police can acknowledge their mistakes,” Tsvetkov said.