Putin fires Russian prison chief over torture scandal

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with members of the government via video link in Sochi, Russia, November 24, 2021. Sputnik / Mikhail Metzel / Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin fired the head of Russia’s penitentiary on Thursday, weeks after leaked videos appeared to show detainees being tortured and sexually abused.

Alexander Kalashnikov was fired immediately, according to a simple decree posted on the Kremlin website. He was replaced by Arkady Gostev, Deputy Minister of the Interior.

The Kremlin has not commented on Kalashnikov’s removal from the post of head of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN). However, the move comes after the FSIN last month fired five senior prison officials and launched a series of criminal investigations into prison cases in the Saratov district. read more

Authorities took action after a detainee rights group, Gulagu.net, began publishing, he said, graphic evidence of orchestrated sadism in the prison, located about 700 kilometers (450 miles) southeast of Moscow.

The imprisonment of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, which has provoked condemnation from Western governments, has also led to increased control of conditions in the penitentiary system.

Six former detainees and a former prison inspector told Reuters earlier this year about regular beatings and sexual assaults in the prison colony east of Moscow, where Navalny began serving two and a half years in prison in March.

The Kremlin has refused to answer questions about Navalny’s treatment in prison, saying it was a matter for the FSIN.

Report by Alexander Marrow, Edited by Mark Trevelyan and Alison Williams

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