"Look: this is the SHIZO, here they beat and kill"

The investigation into one of the criminal cases concerning torture at Krasnokamensk Colony No. 10, which burned down following a prisoners' riot in April 2011, has concluded. Eight former employees of the correctional colony are charged with abuse of office: testimony from prisoners indicates that after the fire, they were beaten with batons and forced through a 'gauntlet' with dogs. Human rights activists are dissatisfied that the heads of the correctional institution, who allegedly also participated in the mass beatings, are not being held accountable.

In the Trans-Baikal Territory, the investigation into one of the criminal cases regarding the mass beating of prisoners at Colony No. 10 in Krasnokamensk has been completed. Vitaly Cherkasov, head of the Trans-Baikal Human Rights Centre (ZPTC), stated this to Gazeta.Ru; he represents the interests of five of the ten victimised convicts.

"There is a unified case regarding torture and abuse of prisoners at IK-10 in April 2011. Due to procedural difficulties, the case was subsequently divided. The investigation has concluded for one of the cases: it concerns five of the prisoners I represent," noted Cherkasov.

According to him, the victims are currently reviewing the case materials, so the human rights activist found it difficult to specify even an approximate start date for the trial.

The inmates of the Krasnokamensk IK-10, where the former head of YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, served his sentence in 2005, were struck by the batons of correctional institution staff on 17 April of last year.

Before the beatings, a fire and a riot by several dozen prisoners (a figure of 60 participants was cited) occurred at night at IK-10. To set the fire, the convicts used pre-prepared bottles with flammable liquid, rebar, tools, and improvised objects that helped break open the doors and locks of the barracks, the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) noted.

At that time, most of the colony burned down; there were no casualties from the fire. The prisoners were sent to other correctional institutions in the Chita region.

According to the official version of the FSIN, the organisers of the riots were attempting to free prisoners who were held in the punitive isolation unit. The convicts, the agency noted, intended to rob the prison shops and break the boilers used for cooking. A criminal case was opened under Article 212 of the Criminal Code (organisation of and participation in mass riots). The first sentences for the arsonists were handed down shortly after the emergency. In July 2011, the Krasnokamensk City Court sentenced prisoners Ivan Chernykh and Dmitry Yaltsev to 2 years and 2 months of imprisonment: they were found guilty under Part 2 of Article 321 of the Criminal Code (disorganisation of the activities of institutions ensuring isolation from society, as well as the use of violence against an employee of a place of deprivation of liberty).

By that time, it had become clear that the protest had a reason different from the official one. Immediately after the incident, human rights activists claimed that the prisoners could not otherwise draw attention to the torture and abuse by colony staff. The investigators themselves, who handled the case of the riot and arson, received the same information from the accused. Complaints poured in to the investigators from prisoners held in the colonies of the Chita region. According to the calculations of human rights activists, there were more than a hundred such statements. Consequently, in May 2011, investigators opened a case against the warders and operational staff of the colony under Article 286 of the Criminal Code (abuse of office).

"To date, there are 8 defendants left in the case, although there were more at the beginning. The head of IK-10 was also under suspicion at the time, but he soon lost any status in the case," notes Cherkasov.

From the testimony of the victims, which Gazeta.Ru has at its disposal, it follows that immediately after the fire began, the prisoners went out to the parade ground where daily roll calls are held.

Convict Sergei Brodyagin recounts that during the fire, he was sleeping in the barracks. "I woke up from the smoke and the burning smell. Everyone around was noisy, moving about. Our barracks were not yet burning, it was just smoky. Through the window, I saw that the neighbouring barracks were already completely on fire. I got dressed and ran outside with the other convicts. I do not know who set fire to our barracks. It was dark outside. Everyone was running, shouting. We went to the parade ground. Other convicts were already there. We remained on the parade ground until morning," notes Brodyagin.

In the morning, the convict continues, the colony staff began calling the prisoners out one by one and taking them to the side of the punitive isolation unit (SHIZO) building. Brodyagin himself was called by a 'staff member with the patronymic Kimych'. Along with another prisoner, he led Brodyagin towards the isolation unit. On the way to the SHIZO, Brodyagin says, they encountered the head of SIZO-2, located on the colony grounds, by the surname of Trukhin. Trukhin demanded that the prisoners confess to the arson. Brodyagin, according to his account, did not confess, while the prisoner accompanying him, Yevstrafilov, 'said he knew everything', and after that, he was escorted to SIZO-2.

"Trukhin said to me: 'Look: this is the SHIZO, here they beat and kill'. When I went under the roof of the SHIZO, I fell into hell. The duty officer with the patronymic Kimych shouted at me: 'Run, bitch!'.

I said that I could not run, I have a disability related to my joints (juvenile chronic rheumatoid arthritis). Immediately, a kick to my back came from Kimych. I fell. Three more staff members ran up and began beating me with batons. There were numerous blows. Because of this, my leg went numb. They grabbed me by the collar and dragged me to the entrance of the SHIZO. In front of the isolation unit stood a 'living corridor' of colony staff. They dragged me through this corridor, delivering numerous baton strikes to my body," claims Brodyagin.

The beatings did not end there. Colony staff allegedly stretched the prisoner out on the floor in a 'star' position and began beating him with renewed vigour. In addition to batons, if Brodyagin is to be believed, the staff struck with their hands, feet, sticks, and used electric shocks, accompanying all of this with shouts and humiliations.

The beating continued for about 20 minutes—all this time, according to him, they were demanding that Brodyagin confess to the arson. Not seeing the required reaction from the prisoner, they took Brodyagin to SIZO-2.

There, they put him against the wall, spreading his legs wider than shoulder-width, and began hitting them, he recounted. "Realising that I could not spread my legs, they said: 'Fine. Stand like that'. Along with me, Yevstrafilov and a convict nicknamed Sirota were standing in the stretching position. They were beaten along with me with batons, hands, and feet. All this lasted about an hour. I fell and lost consciousness. I woke up because they were pouring water on me. One of the staff members said that they should stop beating us, otherwise the flesh would tear from the bones—he still had his shift to hand over. I could not walk myself, they carried me into the cell," says Brodyagin. Already in the cell, the head of SIZO-2, Trukhin, came to the beaten prisoner and warned the convict not to talk about being beaten. And if he disobeyed, Trukhin would find witnesses who would point to Brodyagin as the arsonist.

Prisoner Denis Irinchenko, in his testimony, suggests that the riot occurred because the convicts had been beaten before.

"I heard that the staff could even put a rubbish bin on a convict's head," recounts Irinchenko.

During the fire, like most prisoners, he packed his things and left the barracks. According to him, in the morning, all the prisoners were made to squat, ordered to lower their heads, and put their hands behind their heads. Then, in groups, they began to lift them and lead them to the SHIZO.

The prisoners walked through a 'living corridor' of staff who beat them with batons. At the entrance to the isolation unit, the convicts were again ordered to squat and were beaten again—this time, in addition to batons, they used a taser. Around the corner in the SHIZO, one of the staff members by the surname of Zinchenko showed Irinchenko a baton and asked: 'Do you know where it has been?'. The prisoner, according to his words, was forced to undress, laid on the ground, and began to be beaten. While beating Irinchenko, the staff pressed his head to the ground with their hands and feet.

"Opposite me on the ground lay convict K. I saw how Zinchenko approached him and shoved the baton into his anus. K. screamed.

The staff stopped beating me, I got dressed and, on command, went into the SHIZO, where I was placed in a cell," claims Irinchenko. In SIZO-2, the beatings stopped.

According to Vitaly Cherkasov, all the accused are operational workers of the colony or warders. "In addition to beating with batons, there is evidence in the case that there were dogs in the 'living corridor' of colony staff. When the prisoners went for medical examinations of their injuries, they recorded bites," notes the human rights activist.

Why the regional investigators did not keep the colony leadership as defendants, primarily its head, Alexander Ryabko, the head of the ZPTC does not understand. "Mass beatings could not have happened without the knowledge of the head. That is my opinion," he says. Moreover, the human rights activist continues, Ryabko, who was dismissed by the then-director of the FSIN Alexander Reimer, soon managed to be reinstated in his position. And even if he did not continue working at IK-10, "the impudence is annoying," says Cherkasov.

He is convinced that there could have been more victims and defendants if the FSIN had not obstructed the work of the regional investigators. According to the head of the ZPTC, when the prisoners were being transferred to Chita colonies, pressure began to be exerted on many of them. "Some managed to be transferred back to IK-10. There, they were offered parole or something else in exchange for silence. Some agreed," notes the human rights activist