Prisoners in the Yakutsk pre-trial detention centre have announced a hunger strike

Several dozen prisoners in the Yakutsk pre-trial detention centre have announced a hunger strike in protest of “dissatisfaction with the conditions of detention”.

“On 28 May at 8:00 a.m., during breakfast distribution in SIZO-1 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), more than 90 individuals held in the cells of the regime block refused to eat, with the identical formulation of ‘disagreement with the conditions of detention’,” representatives of the city prosecutor’s office reported.

Employees of the prosecutor’s office of the republic and the republican Federal Penitentiary Service went to SIZO-1 for an inspection and interviewed the prisoners. According to representatives of the Yakutsk prosecutor’s office, “no specific complaints or statements were received” from those held in the pre-trial detention centre, writes Lenta.ru.

“All interviewed individuals confirm normal conditions of detention in the pre-trial detention centre and consider that the quality and quantity of food meet the established requirements,” representatives of the city prosecutor’s office reported. An inspection is being conducted to identify those involved in the incident, they added.

According to Interfax, obtained from unofficial sources, the hunger strike was announced in protest against the beating of prisoners in the pre-trial detention centre on 8 and 19 May.