Press Release, 7.05.2026

Photo: Azat Miftakhov / Photo by Dmitry Lebedev, Kommersant

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov has sent a letter to Federal Penitentiary Service Director Arkady Gostev calling for an investigation into reports of violence, torture, and threats of sexual violence against Azat Miftakhov at Penal Colony No. 18 of the Federal Penitentiary Service Directorate for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.

In the letter, Rybakov recounted that Azat Miftakhov’s wife had contacted him to report that her husband may have been subjected to violence. According to the information received, on 21 April 2026, the day after Miftakhov’s arrival at Penal Colony No. 18, he was taken to the colony’s administration building, where the operational department is located. There, he was subjected to attempts to coerce him into degrading acts; upon his refusal, he was bound with tape, struck on the heels with a wooden mallet, beaten in the groin area, in the face, and on the head, and threatened with sexual violence and with having his face submerged in a sewage hatch. Wires were also attached to his toes and he was subjected to electric shock torture. It is reported that, when he cried out in pain, staff and co-opted prisoners turned up loud music to drown out what was happening. It is further indicated that the electric shock torture was repeated each time he refused to comply with unlawful instructions from the administration.

Miftakhov informed his wife of those who had participated in or been present during the torture: “colony officer Mikhail Sobolev, operational officers Pavel Kiselev and Yevgeny, an officer referred to as Alexei Viktorovich, and prisoners Bulanov and Mikhail”.

In the Yabloko party leader’s view, these circumstances require immediate and thorough investigation by the Federal Penitentiary Service leadership:

“I am certain that these circumstances require immediate and thorough investigation by the Federal Penitentiary Service leadership. If confirmed, the actions described not only show clear signs of a serious violation of criminal law, but discredit Russia’s entire penitentiary system. The Federal Penitentiary Service is responsible not only for the regime within its institutions, but for the lives and health of those held in them. Any investigation into reports of torture cannot be a formality. It must be prompt, substantive, and objective,” Rybakov stated.

Rybakov also demanded that Azat Miftakhov be granted unimpeded access to his defence lawyer and an independent medical examination — with any injuries documented, including traces of blows and of electric shock — and that the results of such an examination be provided to his defence counsel.