22 March 2019, 23:51
Officials to investigate injuries of Chechen prisoners in penal colony in Mordovia
The Public Oversight Commission (POC) of Mordovia began an inspection in a penal colony where prisoners injured themselves in protest. Former prisoners from Chechnya reported about the problems in the penal colony, while the chiefs of the Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) Department called the action an attempt of blackmail.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 5 and 20, at least eight prisoners committed mass self-mutilation in protest against the actions of the penal colony's administration.
"On March 5, up to ten prisoners drove sharpened toothbrushes under their skins. On March 20, five persons repeated a similar action: they drove wire under their skins. No one had any life threats," reported Valery Krutov, a Mordovian POC's member, as quoted by the "Interfax".
During the four years spent by her son in the penal colony, she was never allowed to visit him, said a mother of 27-year-old Idris Ayubov, who took part in the protest action.
"Earlier, there was a case when my son's arm was broken," the "Kavkaz.Realii" quotes mother of 27-year-old Idris Ayubov as saying.
In his interview to the edition, Abubakar Bisinaev from Chechnya, a former prisoner of the penal colony, noted that he was also beaten because he "wrote complaints and they had effect."
The prisoners thus tried to weaken the sentence serving regime and get into a hospital, reports the regional FSIN Department as quoted by the RBC.
The FSIN Department added that the participants of the protest action were "malicious violators" of the sentence serving regime.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 22, 2019 at 08:24 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
