A man arrested because of comments on a telegram said that a Wagnerite offered cigarettes to his cellmates for beating him in a Moscow pre-trial detention center

Photographer Alexander Strukov, arrested because of comments in a telegram, said that an ex-mercenary of Wagner PMC, who was with him in a Moscow pre-trial detention center, offered his cellmates a carton of cigarettes for beating him. Strukov’s words are reported by First Department.

As a result, none of the 18 people neighboring the photographer and the mercenary agreed to be beaten for cigarettes. At the same time, lawyers write, a fight occurred. It is unknown what caused it and whether any of those arrested were injured.

Before this, Strukov said that six military men and mercenaries accused of robbery, kidnapping, extortion and causing harm to health were placed in his cell. One of these cellmates, according to the photographer, took four issues of the Prison Bulletin from him, promising that the creators of the publication would go to prison for “destabilization and anti-Russian activities.”

Later this man was removed from Strukov’s cell.

The photographer was arrested even before the start of the war in Ukraine - in January 2022, he was charged with an article about calls for terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, he published comments on social networks with calls for terrorism, including threats to “persons of Russian nationality.”