As we have previously reported, the former head of this penal institution was declared guilty of force the convicts to perform construction works at his summer cottage by violence and threats. This time the attention focused on his subordinates (not all of them have been identified yet), and, possibly, on him again: the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Orenburg region initiated criminal proceedings based on the fact of violent actions of sexual nature committed by unidentified officers of Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 against the convict with involvement of other convicts. Today the court imposed a pre-trial restraint for defendant Deputy Head of Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 for Security and Field Work Murat Kumarov in the form of taking him into custody at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility till 20 June of this year.
The criminal case is opened under item «а» part 2 Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the RF «Violent actions of sexual nature committed by a group of persons by previous concert» and item «а» part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF «Abuse of office performed using violence or threatening with violence».
As we have previously reported, Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Orenburg region attracted the attention of human rights back in summer of 2013 when Irina Balashova applied for legal assistance. According to the woman, her partner Sergey Nikonorov was trapped in unbearable and inhuman conditions created by the staff of Penal Colony (settlement) no. 11 for Orenburg region, which is headed by Filyus Khusainov: convicts were systematically subjected to ill-treatment, including threats of sexual abuse. Concerning Mr Nikonorov, the treatment had been caused by his refusals to work at construction sites, and his forced labor complaints were lodged with the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office. Based on these episodes former head of this penal institution Filyus Khusainov was convicted and sentenced to three years prison term with serving the sentence in a standard regime penal colony.
In end of 2013 the picture of appalling abuse of power in Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 was supplemented by testimonies of convicts K. and D. (full names are not given due to ethical reasons), who informed that they became victims of crimes committed by the Colony’s officers. They applied to the Orenburg branch of the Committee for Prevention of Torture out of desperation, since after the failed attempt to flee (in its turn, motivated by batteries) one of them was raped by the convict from the so called «core group» in the presence of the Colony officers and at their order and this was recorded by the administration officers using the video recorder.
At that time lawyers of the Committee Against Torture immediately sent solicitors to the victims, after that they filed applications to the Investigative Committee.
Afterwards during the interrogation convict K. informed the investigator about the circumstances of what happened to him: on 13 October 2013 Deputy Head of Penal-Colony Settlement for Security and Field Work Major Murat Kumarov dragged him in the punitive confinement. There the officer ordered the other convicts to beat him up. The battery was brutal, no mercy was shown, from time to time the victim passed out. Kumarov used to bring К. to his senses by pouring water on him. Several officers of the penal institution were watching the process; among them was Filyus Khusainov, who at that time was an Assistant to the Colony Head. After the battery Khusainov ordered: «Get all of them lined up here!» and about fifteen penal institution officers entered the room. Two convicts from «core group», abiding to penal institution officers’ orders, started to hold К., and the third one was ordered to touch the face and lips of K. with his penis, which was done. Deputy Head of the Penal Colony Kumarov recorded all of this with his video recorder. Only after the torturer said that the video was ready K.’s tortures stopped and the penal colony officers broke up.
«For a long time the material of the check based on the facts described by convict K. was travelling from one investigator to another without any result. Our legal work on appealing against illegal rulings or even blatant inaction of investigators can be compared to combats at the battle field. This continued till the material of the check was handed over to investigator of the first department for major cases Konstantin Kaskin, who previously had brought the criminal case against the former head of Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 to court. We hope that in the nearest future all who are guilty of this horrible crime will be charged», – lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture, representing the interests of victim K., Albina Mudarisova comments.