Rights defender Nagavkin calls to conduct check in colony

Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender, has complained about custody conditions in the penal colony, located in the Volgograd Region, where he is serving his sentence, and demanded to conduct an inspection there.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 26, 2024, Nagavkin was found guilty of disrupting the work of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) in the city of Leninsk. Following a complaint from the Prosecutor's Office (PO), the Regional Court, has replaced his conditional two-year long imprisonment for a real colony. This October, before going to the colony, in his complaint, Nagavkin pointed out violations in his case and demanded that the sentence be overturned.

Valentin Bogdan, the acting executive director of the Fund "In Defence of Prisoners' Rights"*, has sent the Nagavkin's appeal to the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO).

According to Igor Nagavkin, the inappropriate conditions in the colony threaten prisoners' lives and health. For example, on February 12, 2020, a fire broke out in a dormitory, killing two people. He noted that the threat of a repeated tragedy is relevant, since there are no emergency fire exits in the second level of the building.

"Even if an inmate successfully jumps from the second level, the local fence won't let him to leave the dangerous area, and if the roof collapses, casualties cannot be avoided," the rights defender has warned.

He has also stated that the colony administration does not stop extortion of money among prisoners, which Nagavkin "had repeatedly reported to law enforcement bodies."

Nagavkin has also reported that the prescribed terms of keeping prisoners in the dungeon (punishment cell) are exceeded and that colony bosses violate the prisoners' daily routine, "since they are not given time to rest before working at the night shift."

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 17, 2024 at 07:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.