Investigators opened an abuse of power case in the Rostov prison hospital, where more than 60 prisoners spoke of torture

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on abuse of office (Article 286 of the Criminal Code) in the interregional tuberculosis hospital No. 19 (MOTB-19) in Rostov-on-Don, more than 60 prisoners testified about torture. About it informs “Mediazona” with reference to the chairman of the local Public Monitoring Commission (POC) Igor Omelchenko. He clarified that the case was initiated in September, the day before the human rights activist went for interrogation.

In September 2020, POC members first spoke about the complaint of a prisoner who, according to him, was kept tied to a bed in MOTB-19 for more than 70 days, because of which his leg “rubbed down to the very meat.”

For a year, the investigation was inactive, despite the attempts of human rights defenders to achieve the initiation of a criminal case. As a result, the case was opened after the change of the regional prosecutor – in February 2021, this position was taken by Roman Praskov.

Last November, Mediazona wrote about bullying at ILB-19. Human rights activists said that inmates who ended up in the prison hospital were massively tied to beds and kept in this position for weeks and months. “Those who are bound are looked after by the same patients, we call them“ orderlies ”. They were once themselves “mated”, and they are assigned to look after these people. They have to be untied every two hours, but no one there. Moreover, it comes to bullying, both moral and sexual, ”said Omelchenko.