Novaya Gazeta: a person involved in a case of theft during the design of the Varshavyanka submarine was tortured and raped in a pre-trial detention center in St. Petersburg

Businessman Valery Pshenichny, accused of embezzlement during the design of the Varshavyanka submarine, who was found dead in pre-trial detention center-4 in St. Petersburg, was tortured and raped in the detention center, writes the St. Petersburg Novaya Gazeta.

The results of the forensic examination, cited by the publication, established that Pshenichny was raped before his death. According to Novaya Gazeta, the study showed that it was not the pre-trial detention center employees themselves who raped the deceased businessman, but “someone let in from the outside.” Traces of electric shocks, presumably left by a cord from a boiler, were found in Pshenichny’s mouth. In addition, the accused had a broken spine and cut and puncture wounds on his body.

According to the publication, Pshenichny was in a cell with three other prisoners. On February 5 at approximately 14:00, two of them were taken away for investigative actions, the third to a meeting with a lawyer. Novaya Gazeta, citing data from surveillance cameras, reports that after 15 minutes Pshenichny was also taken out of the cell. He did not leave the pre-trial detention center building, but where exactly he was, as well as when and under what circumstances he returned to the cell is unknown.

According to the newspaper, at the beginning of five, the guard brought one of Pshenichny’s neighbors into the cell. He found the person involved in the Varshavyanka submarine case dead.

The detention center employees, as the newspaper writes, claim that the accused committed [Roskomnadzor] by pulling a drawstring from the hood of a sweatshirt. Before this, according to the guards, the accused made an unsuccessful attempt [Roskomnadzor] with the help of an arch support removed from his sneakers and a cord from a boiler plugged into the outlet.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg arrested Pshenichny on January 18. According to investigators, he, together with the deputy chief engineer of Admiralty Shipyards JSC Gleb Emelchenkov, stole at least 100 million rubles, unreasonably inflating the cost of the contract for the design of the Varshavyanka submarine.

According to Novaya Gazeta, in 2016, Andrei Petrov, director of the NovIT Pro company owned by Pshenichny, was arrested in connection with this case. While in pretrial detention, he testified against Pshenichny and Emelchenkov. After this they were arrested, and Petrov was released.