Russian prosecutors reject political prisoner Azat Miftakhov’s torture report

The prosecutor’s office in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said it found no violations of the rights of the mathematician Azat Miftakhov, a political prisoner who earlier reported being tortured at the Polar Owl penal colony nearly 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Miftakhov’s support group said the finding came in a response to an appeal signed by Mikhail Mityayev, the prosecutor responsible for overseeing compliance with the law in correctional facilities in the district.

“During the inspection, responsible officers reviewed medical documents, obtained explanations from convicts and staff at the administration of IK-18 [Polar Owl], and examined footage from stationary surveillance cameras and body cameras. The recordings were preserved for review to the prosecutors and employees of Russia’s Investigative Committee. No video recordings were concealed or deleted.

…On the special prosecutor’s instructions, medical workers from Branch No. 9 of Medical Unit No. 11 of the Federal Penitentiary Service conducted a medical examination of the convict, during which no bodily injuries were found on the surface of his body.”

Miftakhov confirmed that a medical examination had been ordered for him, but it was carried out two weeks after the alleged torture. “By that time there were no traces left,” he explained.

The support group said the Investigative Committee’s office in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District is still conducting a preliminary inquiry into a complaint filed by Miftakhov’s lawyer.

On May 4, The Insider published Miftakhov’s account of the torture he said he had been subjected to on April 21, shortly after arriving at the IK-18 prison colony, also known as Polar Owl, in the settlement of Kharp. The Polar Owl facility is notably down the road from IK-3 Polar Wolf, the prison where opposition politician Alexei Navalny was murdered with a deadly toxin in February 2024.

According to Miftakhov, he was tortured with electric shocks, beaten on the heels with a wooden hammer, and threatened with rape. Miftakhov named the Federal Penitentiary Service officers who he said took part in the abuse.

The Insider identified two employees whom Miftakhov mentioned in his account: Mikhail Sobolev from Tyumen and Pavel Kiselev from the Sverdlovsk Region. According to Miftakhov, Sobolev personally took part in the beatings, rape threats and torture, while Kiselev was present in the room where the political prisoner was tortured with electric shocks.