Riot in a colony in the Chelyabinsk region

At least 250 people ( according to official figures ) refused to obey the leadership of the institution

On the evening of November 24, Novaya Gazeta was informed about the riot that began in correctional colony No. 6 in the city of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk Region, by local human rights activists and relatives of prisoners. According to their information, about 300 people rebelled in IK No. 6 on Saturday. They seized the tower and hung out a poster with the inscription "Help, people!". Relatives of the prisoners (according to human rights activists, at least 400 people gathered at the gates of the colony) claimed that the convicts made this inscription with blood. Relatives and friends also said that a large number of riot police had been brought here, and riot policemen with rubber batons were brought into the territory of IK No. 6.

Project coordinator “No to the Gulag!” in the Chelyabinsk region, Oksana Trufanova (now in Kopeysk) told Novaya Gazeta: “As we found out in advance, a few days ago, employees of this correctional facility beat several prisoners and placed them in a punishment cell. In response, on Saturday, the cellmates of the beaten seized the tower and demanded a meeting with the punished. They wanted to make sure they were alive and well. But the administration of the colony did not agree to concessions. I arrived at the colony as soon as I learned about the unrest that had begun. Vasily Nazarkin, deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Chelyabinsk Region, told me: “Everything is fine here, there are some problems.” But many OMON fighters were already on duty near the colony. Something terrible was happening. Screams and screams were heard from all sides. The situation was clearly out of control. Riot police began to beat human rights activists and relatives. Me too. I went inside, they promised to let me in. But, when I came closer, the go-ahead was given to the riot police: "Beat!". Everyone ran away, they hit me from behind with a club, I fell. It turned out that my knee was damaged, and I got a concussion. From colony no. 6 I was taken to the hospital to have the beatings removed.”

Valeria Yuryevna Prikhodkina, a relative of one of the prisoners, told Novaya Gazeta: “I found out in the morning (I received text messages from IK-6) that parental day and all visits were canceled in the colony. The bewildered relatives who arrived in Kopeysk asked questions: what happened? Why are there so many bosses in the colony? Representatives of the administration of the institution came out to the relatives and announced that “everything is in order in the zone, and the riot police are only conducting exercises.” But no one was allowed to visit relatives.

Official comments about the incident appeared only at night.

The leadership of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Chelyabinsk Region issued an official statement on the riot that had taken place. It is posted on the department's website with the note "to prevent the spread of false information."

We quote:

“On November 24, at 11:30 in IK-6, before lunch, convicts from six squads in the amount of 250 people went to the regime corridor of the residential area of ​​the institution and put forward illegal demands to relax the regime of detention, in particular, to release a number of convicts from the punishment cell who were placed there for violations of internal regulations.

The head of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Chelyabinsk Region, Major General of the Internal Service Vladimir Turbanov, and the Chelyabinsk Prosecutor for Supervision of Compliance with Laws in Correctional Institutions, Alexander Yakovlev, arrived at the scene.

Currently, an internal audit is being carried out, all the circumstances of the incident are being identified. The situation in the institution is controlled and managed.”

As Ivan Mishanin, head of the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Chelyabinsk region, added: “There were no negative manifestations on the part of the prisoners. The leadership of IK No. 6 is not going to use physical force against the rioters. We are ready to wait until the convicts come down on their own.”

Meanwhile, as relatives of the inmates told Novaya Gazeta, all of them were dispersed by force. By IK No. 6 until 6 am (local time) they continued to pull in reinforcements. Access roads to Kopeysk are still blocked. What happens behind the fence of IK No. 6 is unknown. Several dozen people reportedly went on a hunger strike.

Oksana Trufanova and some relatives of prisoners who suffered from the actions of OMON, after being examined at the emergency room, were taken to the police department of the city of Kopeysk. There they were all interrogated by interrogators. Now the interrogated people are concerned about the question: who will be held accountable - them or the OMON fighters?

Early in the morning on November 25, the state of emergency in correctional colony No. 6 was commented on by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region.

“No mass riots were allowed on the territory of the colony in Kopeysk and near it,” the press service of the department told Novaya Gazeta. - On the scene on November 24, the leadership of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Chelyabinsk Region, as well as additional squads of the PPS and OMON, immediately arrived in order to organize the protection of public order and the prevention of offenses. A few hours later, most of the relatives of the convicts independently left the territory adjacent to the colony. The young people who remained in place, in a state of alcoholic intoxication, tried to violate public order, loudly using foul language. As a result, 26 people were detained by the police and taken to the police departments of Kopeysk and Chelyabinsk to draw up administrative protocols. Currently, the situation in the colony is still under the control of employees of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Chelyabinsk Region.

At the same time, on the night from Saturday to Sunday, the correctional institution was visited by the Ombudsman of the Chelyabinsk Region Alexei Sevastyanov and a member of the Public Monitoring Commission for the implementation of public control over the observance of human rights in places of detention (POC) Dina Latypova. They gave different assessments of what they saw.

We quote:

Alexey Sevastyanov:

- No illegal actions were taken against the prisoners. There were no special operations or the use of special equipment. Nobody is beaten. Relatives and incomprehensible tipsy people walk near the colony. There are OMON fighters, employees of the prosecutor's office and the FSB in the colony. Prisoners put forward a variety of demands.

Dina Latypova:

- IK No. 6 rebelled almost at full strength. Hundreds of convicts are standing on the roofs of their premises, shouting from there: "People, help." Holding posters. They declared a mass hunger strike. They say without exception that they are tired of enduring torture, bullying, beatings and ShIZO as a way of punishing them for the slightest offense.

Regional human rights activists remind that IK No. 6 in Kopeysk has recently become famous for scandals related to the death of prisoner Nikolai Korovkin and the beating of convict Yevgeny Terekhin.

Members of the PMC in the Chelyabinsk region regularly went to IK No. 6 in connection with constant complaints of beatings, extortion and other human rights violations, however, there was no reaction to these signals from the leadership of the Main Directorate of the FSIN in the Chelyabinsk region.