Mass beating of prisoners occurred in an Odessa prison

In the Odessa medium-security correctional colony, located at 2-A Krasnova Street, “a mass beating of prisoners took place under the guise of a planned inspection.” The incident occurred on the morning of 7 December. Several people sustained serious injuries. This was reported by Andrey Didenko, a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group.

According to him, at around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the colony began what was termed a “planned search of the colony’s residential quarters and the personal belongings of the convicts,” in which, according to eyewitnesses, about 150 employees from various correctional institutions of the Odessa region participated. “The beatings and abuse of the convicts in the disciplinary isolation unit (DIZO) and the cell-type facility (PKT) continued for more than three hours. The 42 convicts held in the DIZO and PKT were brutally beaten, and several were significantly maimed. As a result of the torture by members of the rapid response group, the prisoners sustained bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity; there is information regarding broken arms, legs, and ribs,” the human rights activist noted, as quoted by *Reporter*.

A. Didenko also noted that the deputy head of the Department for the Execution of Sentences, Alexander Duka, categorically denies that any beating of prisoners took place. “We managed to contact the deputy head of the department, General Alexander Alexeyevich Duka, who categorically denies this information and even cites the fact that journalists were admitted to the colony after the ‘search’ (though he did not name which journalists specifically), who documented the lawful actions of the correctional staff and the rapid response group during the ‘planned activities’,” the human rights activist noted.

“At the moment, it is known that one person is in serious condition with fractured limbs. The prisoner’s name is Igor Sitkar. Several people slit their veins in protest. At the time of these unlawful actions, all the victims were in the disciplinary isolation unit serving administrative penalties. Thus, the opportunity to obtain information about the condition of the prisoners is limited,” the human rights activist said, adding that he received this information by mail from prisoners currently in the isolation unit, which was later confirmed by those in Colony No. 14.