MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2018) The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) in the Yaroslavl Region over its employees' abusing their authority, as shown in a published video featuring them beating prisoners in a penal colony, Svetlana Petrenko, the committees spokeswoman, said on Friday.
The Russian Novaya Gazeta newspaper posted the video, provided by Russian human rights organization Public Verdict, on its website. According to the outlet, the video was made in December 2016. This is not the first torture scandal connected with the penal colony. In July, a video featuring its staff beating prisoner Yevgeny Makarov was made public.
"On August 23, 2018, one more video showing FSIN employees beating prisoners was published in media. As the video has been studied, the identities of two FSIN employees, who had already been held criminally liable, have been established. The Central Investigation Department has immediately launched a criminal investigation based on abuse of authority with use of physical force and special equipment," Petrenko said.
The video featuring Markarov's beating triggered a high-profile case. Twelve FSIN employees have already been arrested in connection with the incident.
Following the scandal, the FSIN decided to establish a commission to investigate all cases of the use of force in prisons in the past year.
