Two-thirds of Russians (66%) declared that torture was inadmissible under any circumstances, it follows from the results of a survey by the Levada Center .

20% of respondents believe that torture is permissible. 11% stated that it is possible to torture people in exceptional cases when it can save the lives of innocent people, another 9% admitted the use of torture only in relation to those who committed a serious violent crime. 

45% of the respondents are convinced that torture is most widespread in the system of institutions of the FSIN, 41% – in the police and during the investigation, 18% – in the Investigative Committee and the FSB. 

At the same time, the majority (89%) of the respondents have not been to isolation wards or places of detention following a court verdict. 4% have friends or relatives who were in  jail , bullpen and  IVS . The same number of people said that their friends or relatives had been to places of serving their sentences. Only 3% said that they themselves were in a pre-trial detention center, bullpen, IVS, 2% – in places of punishment. 

In early October, the human rights project Gulagu.net published several videos of torture and rape of prisoners held in the tuberculosis hospital of the Federal Penitentiary Service. After a public outcry, the hospital’s management was dismissed, several criminal cases were initiated, including abuse of office. 

Human rights defenders received video recordings from the programmer Sergei Savlyev, who worked as an administrator of CCTV cameras in the Saratov tuberculosis hospital of the Federal Penitentiary Service, when he was serving a sentence on charges of drug trafficking.

Savelyev left Russia and asked for asylum in France. At home, he was accused of illegal access to computer information during his stay in the colony. The court arrested Savelyev in absentia . They are going to put him on the international wanted list.

(C)MEDUZA 2021