Support The Moscow Times!

Jail Revolt Prompts Call for Punishment

Staff at Kopeisk's Penal Colony No. 6, where hundreds of prisoners revolted for two days last month over inhumane treatment and extortion, should be "punished" for "gross legal violations," the region's top prosecutor said Tuesday.

Vladimir Turbanov told a presidential human rights council meeting in Chelyabinsk that prosecutors had uncovered violations that warranted the firing of prison personnel, Interfax reported.

More than 350 official complaints have been filed with investigators, including over 250 claims of physical violence and torture, 161 of extortion, 28 of labor violations and 20 of substandard medical aid, said councilman Igor Kalyapin.

Specifically, inmates were subjected to loud music by heavy-metal band Rammstein and flamboyant singer Boris Moiseyev, as well as electric shocks, local rights activist Nikolai Shchur said by phone Tuesday.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday fired Federal Prison Service deputy head Alexei Velichko, as part of a shakeup in the agency's leadership that started with the appointment of a new chief in June.

Izvestia reported that Velichko had been responsible for educational work with prisoners and cited experts as saying his dismissal was not linked to the Kopeisk prison riot.

Regional investigators opened an abuse-of-authority case against staff at Penal Colony No. 6 on Nov. 27, a day after the revolt officially ended.

Top regional investigator Pavel Cheurin told the council meeting on Tuesday that all current and some former inmates at the prison would be questioned. He added that local investigators had opened 17 criminal cases against prison officials last year and 30 such cases in the first 10 months of this year.

Eduard Petrukhin, deputy head of the Federal Prison Service, told the council that reform of the nation's penitentiary system was "failing" because officials who drafted the measures had not consulted the public, prosecutors and investigators.

In late 2009, then-President Dmitry Medvedev ordered wide-scale reform of the prison system following the high-profile death of whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in pretrial detention.

The reform has been overseen by Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov and former prison service chief Alexander Reimer. It has included abolishment of pretrial detention for economic offenders and separation of first-time convicts from repeat offenders.

Petrukhin told the meeting that the government would form a working group this year to "correct" the reform. "I feel ashamed to? hear the? system's problems, the? prison reform turned out to? be a? failure. It was written without asking the? opinion of? the public, investigators and? prosecutors," he said.

According to? the Federal Prison Service, the? country's prison system contains 639,600 prisoners, down 7.6 percent since last year.

Related articles:

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more