"Corpses are lying on top of each other"

An Irkutsk blogger recorded a video about the (nightmarish) conditions in which bodies are stored in the morgue in the city of Tulun. A criminal case was opened against him. And when he was detained, he was beaten

In the Irkutsk region, a criminal case was opened for violation of privacy (Part 1 of Article 137 of the Criminal Code) against a blogger from Tulun, Artem Pavlechko, who published a video about unsanitary conditions in the local morgue, said lawyer Anna Anufrieva.

The Investigative Committee also reported on the criminal case, but did not name the suspect, indicating only his age - 34 years. According to investigators, in January 2026, he “illegally disseminated information about the private life of a doctor” by publishing a video on VKontakte with information about the place of residence of the hero of the video without his consent.

According to Anufrieva, the reason for the case was a video from the morgue. On January 14, Pavlechko published a 16-minute video from the Tulun forensic department on VKontakte. The video was called “Terrible unsanitary conditions in the Tulun morgue, or business on a mountain of people.”

“People complain that everything here is not Christian. Mess, unsanitary conditions, garbage dump. <…> You hose people down, corpses are lying on top of each other. People then bury them and kiss them. Will every Tulun resident ever find himself in such conditions? Right? The bulls are here!” — Pavlechko, dressed in camouflage, addresses the morgue staff in the video, including one of the medical workers who leaves a cigarette butt in the sink near the autopsy table.

The recordings show, among other things, that the bodies of some of the deceased people were lying on dirty couches, clothing and other items were scattered or piled on the dirty floor next to them, and dirty instruments were lying next to autopsy tables.

Then the blogger goes to the church, to the funeral service company and to the house, allegedly, of the head of the morgue, Sergei Dolenchuk. All this time, Pavlechko is accompanied by an unnamed man. Perhaps this is a former morgue employee who also addressed human rights activists and asked to “bring the story to the federal level.”

The video ends with the police being called because of the blogger’s visit to the morgue, and he and his companion go to the prosecutor’s office to file a complaint. Soon after the publication of the video, the department reported that it had begun an inspection of the condition of the premises of the Tulun morgue at the request of a local resident. His name was not mentioned. The results of the inspection were not reported.

The head of the morgue, in turn, filed a police report against the blogger for violating privacy, claims the Baza telegram channel, which is close to the security forces. According to him, the manager accused Pavlechko of “breaking into private property.”

The blogger was detained on the morning of February 11. Human rights activist Anna Tazheeva told Ksenia Sobchak’s media holding “Caution Media” that SOBR officers broke into Pavlechko’s home, conducted a search, and beat the blogger himself. Lawyer Anna Anufrieva published a photo of Pavlechko with security forces. The photo shows that the blogger has a bruise on his face.

Pavlechko was held in police custody for two days and was released only on the evening of February 13, Sobchak said . After his release, the blogger confirmed that he was beaten during his arrest and was also forced to record an apology to the morgue staff and the applicant in the case. He did not specify who wrote the statement. Probably, we are talking about the head of the morgue.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Irkutsk region published a video of Pavlechko’s arrest. The 34-year-old “violator who calls himself a blogger” is not named in the publication, and his face is partially blurred. However, Pavlechko can be recognized in the footage, including by his clothing. In the recording, SOBR officers use a sledgehammer to break down the front door to the blogger’s apartment, and then force him to apologize to the morgue employees.

From the department’s publication it follows that security forces studied Pavlechko’s publications and drew up a protocol against him regarding the public demonstration of extremist symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). What exactly we are talking about is not specified. Baza writes that employees of the “E” center noticed a keychain with the image of a “thief’s star” in one of the blogger’s videos and could consider it a symbol of the “AUE movement” banned in the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the court had already examined the case and ordered administrative arrest for Pavlechko.

According to Baza, Pavlechko was released on his own recognizance. The blogger’s relatives told the telegram channel that he had bruises and abrasions on his legs and body. In confirmation, Baza published a video with the blogger, where traces of beatings are visible on his body.

Artem Pavlechko is a blogger from Tulun who covers the problems of the city and region on social networks, writes the Siberian publication “People of Baikal”. He became famous thanks to videos in which he argues with traffic police officers. In 2024, Pavlechko ran for mayor of Tulun and received 17% of the vote.

Pavlechko calls himself “a blogger of all Rus'” and “the future president of Russia.” “With the help of the Siberian Freshness channel, I intend to sow good, bright, eternal things,” says the description of the blogger’s YouTube channel. At the same time, the public “Siberian Freshness” has now been renamed “Your mentor in Alfa”, where Pavlechko actively advertised the services of Alfa Bank and published his videos. The last post in the group was published in January 2025.

Judging by Pavlechko’s Instagram , he makes videos about his life, about conflicts with other bloggers, as well as videos criticizing local authorities. Moreover, he began actively publishing videos about the problems of Tulun about a year before the election of the mayor of the city.

In addition, in the accounts you can find a xenophobic video with calls to create a “Bastrykin squad” to fight citizens of Tajikistan who came to work in Russia, as well as a video about training for the Russian military fighting in Ukraine. At the same time, on Pavlechko’s Facebook avatar there is a photo with a burning Russian passport.