The SBI exposed the leaders of the colony who tortured prisoners at the behest of the superiors
Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation have completed investigation regarding members of a criminal group that operated on the territory of Berdyansk Correctional Colony No. 77. According to the results of the investigation, the management of the colony organized a system of extortion and torture of convicts for the purpose of personal enrichment.
The indictments have already been submitted to the court.
Criminal activities in the penitentiary lasted from 2016 to 2020. The management of the colony introduced the practice of systematic torture of convicts, during which money was demanded both from them and from their relatives. Torture was carried out by other prisoners, who were specially selected by the administration for this purpose.
After arriving at the colony, each new arrival went through the so-called “reception procedure”, which was accompanied by brutal physical and psychological torture. The purpose of this procedure was to break the will of the convicts and force them to obey. After that, the prisoners came under the control of other convicts who participated in a criminal organization with the support of the colony administration.
During the first 14 days of their stay in the quarantine zone, the convicts were subjected to daily torture. They were beaten with plastic and wooden sticks, their hands were twisted, their buttocks and knuckles were beaten, infections were introduced with sewing needles under their nails, and they were subjected to long-term tying and forced to perform repeated physical exercises such as squatting more than 500 times. The prisoners were also forced to wash the floor all day long without a break.
During the torture, the convicts were forced to call their relatives and ask for money, which was transferred to specially specified accounts. The amounts varied from several thousand to 100 thousand hryvnias, depending on the financial capabilities of the relatives.
The collected funds were sent to the colony every month in the form of parcels for certain convicts, after which the money was withdrawn and given to the leaders of the criminal organization.
Indictments have been sent to the court against the former head of Berdyansk Correctional Colony No. 77, his first deputy, as well as seven convicts who agreed to participate in torture and extortion.
The charges were brought under the following articles: part one of article 255 (creation and management of a criminal organization), part two of article 127 (torture), part four of article 189 (extortion) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The defendants face up to 12 years in prison. Procedural management is carried out by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
