"They can't stand the beatings": why there were riots among the prisoners in Saratov colony No. 13

The Investigative Committee of the Saratov Region is investigating a criminal case into the mass brawl of prisoners in colony No. 13 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the region.

This was reported in the regional investigation department on October 22. 

According to the investigation, unrest in the colony, which is located in the city of Engels, began on Wednesday morning, October 20.

Eight convicts in a dormitory of one of the detachments beat nine inmates for collaborating with the administration of the institution.

Two employees of IK-13 were injured while trying to stop a mass brawl.

Criminal cases were opened against two prisoners of 32 and 33 years old on the use of violence that is not dangerous to health against an employee of a place of deprivation of liberty (part 2 of article 321 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Against eight more prisoners, a case was initiated on the use of violence against the convict, out of revenge for the assistance provided to him by the administration of the institution (part 1 of article 321 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The maximum punishment in both cases is five years in prison.

“Currently, three initiated criminal cases have been combined in one proceeding,” the regional TFR reported.

"Can't stand bullying"

Lawyer Snezhana Muntean told RT that unrest in the colony occurred because the convicts can no longer tolerate bullying and constant beatings by "activists".

Muntian represents the interests of convicts who have reported violence, beatings and rape in the colonies.

Several of her clients have already been recognized as victims in criminal torture cases.

As the lawyer said, on October 21, one of her applicants allowed her to give her name to the media and asked to tell in his words what had happened in IK-13 in recent days.

“My client's name is Roman Pozdnyakov.

Yesterday I visited him at IK-13.

According to him, the convicts were outraged by the terrible treatment of themselves by the "activists" of this colony.

They can no longer tolerate constant bullying, extortion of money and beatings, all this has been going on for a long time, ”said Muntian.

As the lawyer added, during the meeting, she noticed signs of beatings on Pozdnyakov: his elbows were covered with bruises.

According to Roman, recently "activists" demanded money from him, and also called to join their group and participate in the beatings of other prisoners.

“He said he refused, says:“ This is not mine, I can’t. ”

After that they tied his head with a rag and poured water on his face almost to the point of losing consciousness, ”says Snezhana Muntean.

According to her, she visited Roman three weeks earlier and then he behaved differently: he was silent almost all the time and repeated that everything was fine with him.

At the same time, the lawyer noticed that the prisoner's eye was twitching.

"And at this meeting of ours, it seemed to break through: he talked a lot about what happened in the colony and during the riots themselves," says the interlocutor of RT.

The head of the Federal Penitentiary Service arrived at the scene

According to the prisoner Roman Pozdnyakov, now the "activists" of the colony are isolated from other prisoners: all of them were transferred to a separate detachment.

“To calm down the prisoners, the administration of the colony promised that the“ activists ”would allegedly be transferred to another colony.

But what will actually be done is still unknown.

According to Roman, when they were checked on October 20, in his 12th detachment alone, about 60 prisoners wrote applications to the prosecutor's office complaining of beatings and extortion.

Prisoners from other detachments did the same.

According to the most conservative estimates, about 400 applications should have been received, ”Muntyan said.

Earlier, the Public Monitoring Commission of the Saratov Region reported that after the unrest, an inspection group arrived at the colony, including the acting head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the region, Anton Efarkin.

The commission confirmed that the fight among the convicts was stopped by the prisoners themselves.

“During the visit, it was found out that there was a fight among the prisoners in one of the detachments, but they also stopped this fight.

No additional settlement measures had to be taken, including the information about the call of the special forces was not confirmed, ”the commission's website says.

At the same time, the POC denied the information that the convicts refused to go to work.

“The inspection team interviewed all the inmates, none of them confirmed this information.

On the fact of the fight and on all the questions received, an additional check of the competent authorities will be carried out, ”Sobolev said.

RT appealed to the regional TFR and the prosecutor's office with inquiries about whether an inquiry is being carried out on the fact of complaints of torture in IK-13.

However, at the time of publication of the material, no replies were received from the departments.

Recall that the Investigative Committee is investigating seven criminal cases on five episodes of rape and two episodes of abuse of authority with the use of violence in another institution of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Saratov Region - Tuberculosis Hospital No. 1 (OTB-1). 

The cases were opened after the publication on the network of recordings of torture and rape of prisoners. 

Also, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation conducts a check in the institutions of the penitentiary system of the Saratov region for the observance of the rights of convicts.