Police accused in burning death

Three Russian policemen assaulted a man to force him to confess to a theft, then doused him with gasoline and burned him to death, prosecutors and media reports said.

The police officers were arrested after the taxi driver they had hired to take them to a remote area to dispose of the victim escaped and raised the alarm, Russia’s NTV private television station said.

Prosecutors have charged the three officers, from the Volga River city of Saratov, with the murder of Armen Gasparyan, the investigative committee of the prosecutor- general’s office said in a statement.