At least six people have been detained following the release of a distressing video which appears to show a half-naked inmate being pinned to a table and tortured by guards at a Russian jail.
The graphic 10-minute-long footage was released by Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper on Friday. The paper claims that the gruesome incident took place in a jail in the central Russian city of Yaroslavl back in June 2017.
The video caught attention of the Russia’s Investigative Committee which launched a probe into the case. On Monday the committee confirmed that at least six people have been detained so far.
The disturbing footage allegedly shows a dozen officers from the Federal Penitentiary Service beating a prisoner, who is pinned down on a table as he screams in pain, pleading with the guards to stop. Identified as Evgeny Makarov by Novaya Gazeta, the inmate allegedly chokes and loses consciousness several times.
READ MORE: Shocking VIDEO shows torture in Russian prison, authorities launch probe
The inmate is hit on his calves and heels with rubber batons and fists. One of the men in the footage is seen pouring water from a bucket over the prisoner’s head. The graphic footage was provided to the paper by lawyers of the Public Verdict Foundation, a human rights group which now represents Makarov.
In the meantime, the prisoner’s lawyer, Irina Biryukova, appealed for state protection following threats, according to the Public Verdict Foundation on Monday. In her letter to the Investigative Committee chief, Alexander Bastrykin, Biryukova claimed that some guards from the video threatened to take revenge against the inmate’s lawyer.
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