Commentary, 23.07.2018

On 20 July, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper published a video of torturing (18+) Yevgeny Makarov, a prisoner in the Yaroslavl penal colony. After the publication of the video, the department of the Federal Penitentiary Service began an investigation, and the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation instituted a criminal case on the abuse of authority. At the moment, it is known about the detention of six members of the colony. In April 2017, the Public Verdict Foundation reported on the beating of Ivan Nepomnyashchikh, a prisoner of the “Bolotnaya Square rally case” in the same Penal Colony No 1.

Here comes a commentary by Valery Borschyov, member of the Yabloko’s Political Committee, human rights activist and developer of the law on public control over places of detention:

– Penal colonies where torture is practiced are well known – they are in Karelia, Yaroslavl, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Mordovia. Such colonies give a kind of carte blanche for torture. [Such] crimes are, as a rule, covered up there, and they give a standard response on complaints: “the facts are not confirmed”.

The key [solution] here is public control. It is important that human rights watchdogs be included in the public monitoring commissions, who will be able to investigate cases, as, for example, the Magnitsky case was investigated. The authorities do not want this, and now almost all human rights defenders are not included in the public monitoring commissions. The system of control was liquidated in many regions, including Yaroslavl.

I think that in this case those who tortured [the prisoner] will be punished – this is a scandal, this is confirmed by facts, there is a video recording. However, a system solution of the problem can be achieved only via publicity, openness and control.

There is one more important thing: an article [of the Criminal Code] on false denunciation should be eliminated. Because when prisoners complain of torture, and “the facts are not confirmed”, they can be accused of false denunciation. That is why they do not complain.