Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the head of Russia’s Federal Prison Service (FSIN) on Thursday, weeks after leaked videos showing detainees being tortured and sexually abused.
Alexander Kalashnikov, 57, was relieved of his duties by a decree signed by the Russian president and immediately put into effect, which was published on the Kremlin website. He was replaced by 60-year-old Arkady Gostev, the deputy interior minister.
The Kremlin has not explained why Kalashnikov was ousted as head of Russia’s Federal Prison Service. However, the Kremlin’s move comes after the removal of five prison officials last month and the launch of a series of criminal investigations into torture cases in prisons in the Saratov region.
Russian authorities took action after the Gulagu.net detainee rights group began publishing videos proving the orchestrated sadism that prevailed in the prison, which is located about 700 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
The videos of the torture were handed over to Gulagu.net by former prisoner and programmer Sergei Savelev, who was serving his sentence in prisons in the Saratov region. Savlef fled to France where he sought political asylum. Following the release of the videos, the head of the FSIN directorate in the Saratov region, Alexei Fedotov, resigned, and a total of 18 employees of the directorate were fired.
A spokesman for Russian President Dmitry Peshkov said Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware of reports of torture in penitentiaries, adding that “there have been a number of intensive ministerial inspections.”
The imprisonment of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, which has provoked condemnation from Western governments, has also led to increased control of the prison system.
Six former detainees and a former prison inspector told Reuters earlier this year that there had been systematic beatings and sexual abuse in the detainee colony east of Moscow, where Navalny was serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence in March.
SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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Source From: Capital
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