At roundtable in Krasnodar, Mikhail Savva states the need to reform Russia's penitentiary system

Professor Mikhail Savva, the director of grant programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre (SRRC) spoke at the roundtable in Krasnodar on "Promoting public control over the penitentiary system" and stressed the need for a prison reform in Russia. According to Valery Borschov, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the pressure on human rights defenders in the Krasnodar Territory and Northern Caucasus "is more pronounced than in other regions of the Russian Federation."

The roundtable was organized by the Fund "Social Partnership" (Moscow) and was attended by more than 30 human rights defenders from the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea, and members of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch).

Mikhail Savva has highlighted eight problems he faced during his stay at SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 5 of Krasnodar and offered the countermeasures. For example, he mentioned that people are kept at the SIZO without a court order on the arrest; the norms for sending letters are violated; and excessive censorship and selective degrading custody conditions of certain detainees are used.

He plans to prepare proposals on solving each of the problems that may be used by the "Social Partnership" in preparing recommendations to the appropriate authorities after completion of the project.

Let us remind you that now Evgeny Vitishko, a well-known human rights activist and a member of the "EcoWatch" is serving his term in a colony in the Tambov Region.