A Russian whistleblower that leaked 40Gb of videos showing torture and rape of Russian prisoners by their guards has fled the country to Paris, where he has applied for political asylum.
The videos he has released show a prisoner being anal raped with a broomstick while in prison hospital in Saratov. Other footage shows prison guards beating up and raping a prisoner.
The whistleblower, who, for security reasons, shall only be named by his first name 'Sergej' himself had been a prisoner in Saratov, and was also raped.
He got hold of the video footage when he was asked by the prison, because of his computer expertise, to store the videos securely. This gave him access to not only footage from Saratov prison, but from all prison camps of Russian detention authority FSIN.
Instead of storing it securely, he leaked over 40Gb to action group Gulagu.net.
The action gruop, which has been fighting for prisoner rights for years, helped him escape to Paris. According to them, police and secret ervice were already hunting him, and his life is in great danger if they would get to him.
In response to the leaked footage, the Russian ministry of Justice promised that there will be better supervision of prisons in the future.
The head of Saratov prison, it's director, and three other staff members have been immediatly fired.
Vladimir Osetsjkin, the leader of Gulagu.net, who has also fled to France, described the prison hospital in Sarakov as 'a real concentration camp', where guards dress up as nurses to torture and rape prisoners. He announced that Gulagu.net will soon publish more footage from FSIN, and also from the FSB.
According to him, in just three prison camps, Saratov, Irkutsk and Vladimir, more than 200 prisoners have been raped.
Denis Golikov, former prisoner of a detention center in Irkutsk, says he was part of the 'razrabottsijiki', or 'handlers', that were used to torture their fellow prisoners that refused to speak or confess to prison authorities.
As a 'reward' for their task, they were given the promise that they themselves would not be touched, and the prison authorities would put in a good word with the justice department for them.
However, these torture practices were also use to extort prisoners. Vladimir Matoesjkejev, a businessman who had also been imprisoned in Irkutsk, said he was threatened with torture and rape, unless he paid 400 euros to Golikov, who, according to him, was 'the chief of the 'razrabottsijiki'.
Any person who is raped in Russian prison, will from then onwards be on the lowest ranks amongst the prison hierarchy, and suffer more rape by becoming a sex slave for other prisoners, or at the very least, be the guy that will have to clean the toilets.
After being raped, prisoners are forced to sign documents in which they state they have been treated well and have no complaints.
They are also blackmailed with the rape being taped on video, and threatened with the video's publication.
Matoesjkejev shamefully admits that he himself was also part of the 'razrabottsijiki' for a year, and had partaken in torture activities in 'special cells with loud music so the rest of the prison wouldn't hear the screams'.
A man that had been imprisoned in IK-5, a penal colony in Siberia, described how a fellow prisoner was forced to give him electric shocks on his genitals, in order to make him confess that he played a role in an uprising in the camp, april last year. They also tied him up and anal raped him with a stick.
The prison uprising led to a wave of torture in the camp. "The guards just tortured and raped people right in the middle of the prison, out of spite", another former prisoner told Radio Free Europe /Radio Liberty.
The leaking of the videos has not just caused a ruckus with the government, but also amongst prison populations. Last friday, special forces had to be deployed to stop a prison riot that had erupted when guards started hitting prisoners with batons in Vladikavkaz prison colony.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/klokkenluider-die-videobeelden-van-martelingen-van-russische-gevangenen-liet-uitlekken-vlucht-naar-frankrijk~b82b61fb/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58780360https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/10/18/russian-prison-torture-whistleblower-seeks-asylum-in-france-a75322
Author
Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 8540932 times)