Defence reports ten suspected torturers of Caucasians in Yaroslavl colony

Three suspects of beating up Abubakar Tsagalaev, a native of Chechnya, and Vazha Bochorishvili, a citizen of Georgia, have been arrested in the Yaroslavl colony; two are under house arrest. The whereabouts of the remaining suspects are being established.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in January, the NGO "Public Verdict"* received a video showing the beating in the Yaroslavl colony of Vazha Bochorishvili, a Georgian citizen, who died in the spring of 2017. The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has reported an initiation of the case after the video was posted, although earlier Bochorishvili's death was officially attributed to his liver disease.

The Investigating Department for the Yaroslavl Region of the ICRF is quite actively conducting a check of the fact of torture against a prisoner, Irina Biryukova, a lawyer from the "Public Verdict"*, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to her story, ten suspects have already been identified; some of them have been interrogated. She has also noted that investigators could have interrogated more suspects, but some of them have quitted the UFSIN (local branch of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service); and now investigators are establishing their whereabouts.

According to Ms Biryukova, at correctional colonies, Muslims are "more likely to beaten up" than believers of other confessions.

*The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice into the register of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 1, 2021 at 11:31 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.