Documentation from a Siberian Prison: Systematic Torture and Rape Threats as Part of a Human Experiment | Israel today

Russia's incarceration system has been infamous since the Soviet era, and the situation does not seem to be improving for the country's inmates:

The human rights organization Gulagu last week released security camera footage at the 7th penal colony in the southern Siberian city of Omsk, which allegedly documented brutal torture and torture. In the rape of prisoners, aimed at breaking their willpower.

Sitting and standing for hours: Documentation of security cameras at the 7th Penal Colony in Omsk, Russia // Photo: Gulagu.net/ From social networks

In the disturbing photographs, the prisoners are seen when they are forced to sit on wooden chests by their beds for several days in a row, without sleeping or eating and when they are required to memorize the rules of the place, this when the guards forbid them to move or talk.

Former prison inmates have told human rights activists that more than half of the 1,000 inmates were subjected to torture and rape by federal inmates while on the scene.

A few days before the publication, the organization released documentation of torture in the penal colony in the city of Krasnoyarsk, when one of the recordings showed the beating of a prisoner who allegedly refused to cooperate with the government and obey him.

In early October, photographs of the rape and beating of prisoners that took place in several prison institutions throughout Russia were posted on the organization's portal.

In all, the human rights organization has received more than 100 video files from the Federal Prison Service confirming the systemic nature of torture in colonies and detention centers across the state.

Police arrest protester against decision by Russian Supreme Court to close Memorial, Photo: AP

Russia's human rights issue has recently "gained" worldwide resonance, after the country's Supreme Court approved in late December the closure of the country's influential and largest human rights organization, Memorial, after ruling it violated foreign agents' law and served as an agent of foreign countries. .

The Russian news agency Interfax reported that the organization's lawyers intend to appeal the decision in the European Court of Human Rights as well as in courts in Russia, adding that the ruling is motivated by political considerations.

Meanwhile, last December a draft law was submitted to the Russian parliament imposing a prison sentence of up to 12 years for torture organized by government officials on prisoners and detainees.

The question of the effectiveness of the law or whether it will pass remains the same.

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