Three former prison employees sentenced to 5 years for torturing inmate

A court in Irkutsk has sentenced three former penal colony employees to five years in prison, in connection with a torture case.

The former penitentiary director Alexey Agapov and two of his former staff members were found guilty of abusing their authority in relation to Takhirzhon Bakiev, an inmate whose story was first publicized by the human rights watchdog Gulagu.net.

According to the case materials, the penal colony’s administration colluded with inmates who taunted Bakiev and tore up his Quran. When he complained to the staff, the latter immobilized him with scotch tape and had other inmates beat him and penetrate him with a broomstick, in the presence of prison employees.

According to Bakiev’s attorney Natalia Yusupova, the court has not only established that the prison management knew about Bakiev’s torture, but also that they were actively involved in orchestrating it, in hopes of extracting a confession from Bakiev, whom they wanted to frame as the organizer of a revolt at another penal colony.