Nine warders of Yaroslavl penal colony convicted for torturing a native of Chechnya

A court sentenced employees of a penal colony in the Yaroslavl Region to different terms of imprisonment from three years to three years and four months for torturing prisoner Abubakar Tsagalaev.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in March 2021, the defence reported about ten persons suspected of torturing natives of the Caucasus in the Yaroslavl penal colony, including Abubakar Tsagalaev, a native of Chechnya, and Vazha Bochorishvili, a citizen of Georgia. According to a former prisoner, torture of Caucasians in penal colonies has become a system.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that for several years, human rights defenders have been making public the facts of torture in the penal colony of the Yaroslavl Region, where cruel beatings of prisoners were practiced. The human rights organization “Public Verdict”* published a number of videos made by prison warders during the torture of convicts, including Khasdin Murtazaliev, a native of Chechnya. In January 2020, two employees of the penal colony got suspended sentences for beating Khasdin Murtazaliev. According to the native of Chechnya, not all employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) involved in torture ended up in a prisoners’ dock.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs performing functions of a foreign agent.