The reasons for the riot in the correctional colony No. 1 of Vladikavkaz are named: the riots began after a fight between two prisoners during planned searches. It is reported by TASS with reference to the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN of Russia).
200-600
prisoners
took part in the riot, according to various sources
According to the service, before the riots that began on October 15, two prisoners refused to obey the demands of the officers.
After that, the convicts made an attempt to “destabilize the work of the colony” and called on others to organize riots. The prisoners succumbed to the provocation and pogrom equipment. According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, they began to break local fences in the residential area, and also disabled video cameras.
The source of “Lenta.ru” confirmed that the riots in the colony No. 1 of Vladikavkaz began with a fight between two groups of convicts. After that, there was a conflict in the colony between the employees and those serving sentences. Now the colony is controlled by prisoners, but there is no riot in it. Outside, OMON and Rosgvardia forces were pulled into the building.
Earlier, the executive secretary of the Public Monitoring Commission (POC) of Moscow, Alexey Melnikov, said TASSthat the hotline of the Ministry of Justice for the fight against torture in places of deprivation of liberty received information about the violation of the rights of prisoners in correctional colony No. 1 in Vladikavkaz. At the same time, a source in the region’s law enforcement agencies noted that the Investigative Committee (IC) would investigate the situation.
Informed source Interfax stated that the conditions of detention of the prisoners and the attitude towards them on the part of the employees of correctional colony No. 1 could provoke the riot.
The official representative of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia Kristina Panshina told “Lente.ru” that the correctional institution contains persons who have been repeatedly convicted of committing grave and especially grave crimes.
The riots began on Friday, October 15, at approximately 15:30. According to Baza, about 600 prisoners staged the riot, however TASS reports about 200 convicts participating in the riots. The prisoners smashed the surveillance cameras and the inner doors of the colony. The forces of the National Guard were pulled to the territory of the institution, the adjacent streets were cordoned off by traffic police officers. According to InterfaxOn the evening of October 15, relatives of prisoners began to gather near the colony. By 22:00, the security forces suppressed the riot, reported RIA News emergency services representative.
According to unconfirmed reports, the riot in the Vladikavkaz colony No. 1 had been brewing for the last few days, the officers of the Federal Penitentiary Service were ready for it. The Mash Telegram channel reported that the officers of the department were alerted, while earlier one of the prisoners sewed his mouth with threads and tried to go on a hunger strike.
On October 14, the ombudsman for human rights in Russia, Tatyana Moskalkova, announced the preparation of a draft on a separate punishment for torture in colonies. The Ombudsman noted that the bill “on the allocation of a separate composition for torture with appropriate penalties” is being developed together with the Federation Council. At the same time, in early October, the FSIN reported on the verification of information about torture of prisoners in a tuberculosis hospital in the Saratov region, which appeared in the media. The Federation Council has put the investigation of the situation with torture in a number of Russian colonies under control.
Earlier, former convict Alexei Makarov, who became a victim of bullying in the regional tuberculosis hospital №1 (OTB-1), told “Lente.ru” about the torture to music in the institution. According to Makarov, he was in the tuberculosis-pulmonary department of OTB-1 for two and a half months.
In early October, recordings from the largest archive of prison torture videos began to appear on the network. According to human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, 40 gigabytes of video with torture of prisoners were filmed by officers of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia on service video recorders. After that, criminal cases were initiated, the situation was taken over by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the State Duma and the Federation Council.