The prisoners were beaten, are being beaten and will continue to be beaten

Beatings of newly arrived convicts in Kalmyk correctional colony No. 1 continue, relatives of prisoners report. An inspection of the correctional institution by Kalmyk ombudsmen and the management of the Federal Penitentiary Service for Kalmykia, carried out after several prisoners, in protest against beatings, opened their veins and tried to set themselves on fire, did not reveal any violations - the prisoners did not complain about anything, and no medical examination was carried out .

On November 2, the Kalmyk Federal Penitentiary Service posted information that 11 people “inflicted superficial cuts on their forearms and necks with blades from disposable razors” and committed other “acts of self-harm” as a sign of protest against the search, and also not wanting to comply with the rules of conduct in the colony and obey employee requirements. These reasons for prisoners' suicidal behavior have been questioned by human rights activists , as well as some prisoners contacted by PublicPost . They all said that about 60 newly arrived prisoners were beaten upon “reception” by employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service and special forces, after which some of the prisoners cut their veins in protest, and one person set himself on fire.

The head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for Kalmykia, Viktor Avlasov, and the assistant prosecutor for Elista, Aldar Semenov, went to the colony to investigate the incident . Members of the public monitoring commission and a representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Kalmykia also visited the correctional facility to inspect it . However, the commission did not reveal any violations of the detention of prisoners: “There were no complaints or statements from the convicts.”

“Of course, the commission did not reveal anything,” Vladimir Galirov, head of the regional branch of the movement for human rights, told PublicPost. “The prisoners are intimidated and silent. I asked for a medical examination of them, since they are in a dependent position and for objective reasons may not speak , but this was not done. The only indirect evidence confirming the beatings in the colony was the suicidal actions of mentally healthy people.” According to the human rights activist, the administration and management of the Federal Penitentiary Service are not interested in an objective investigation of the incident.

According to a relative of one of the prisoners, who asked not to give his name for fear of reprisals, the beatings continued during the inspection of the colony by the commission: “People were beaten with batons, sticks, electric shockers every day for a week, from November 1 to 7, and then instead of distribution the detachments were locked in high-security barracks so that there would be no mass filing of complaints.” Relatives of the prisoners are confident that the information will be carefully hidden by the administration and the prosecutor's office, which has taken control of the case: “We know that the President of Kalmykia (Alexey Orlov - PublicPost) called the head of the colony on the carpet and demanded that he prevent information leakage."

As another relative said, beatings during admission are traditional for correctional colony No. 1, but no one could remember such mass cases. “Acceptance takes place in different ways,” said a recently released prisoner on condition of anonymity. “Sometimes, the stage comes, so the cops and camps beat me from morning to evening for ten days. They intimidate me so that he doesn’t make a peep later. Then they force me to sign all sorts of papers. Those who don’t sign , they beat him harder. At one time it was better: they didn’t touch him for a couple of stages. Then the head of the zone changed. There were like two escapes and that’s it, they started beating him hard. They didn’t seem to kill anyone yet, but they ended up in the hospital.”

Relatives of those serving time in Kalmyk correctional colony No. 1 have repeatedly complained about the conditions of detention of convicts . According to them, torture and illegal use of force are practiced in IK-1.