“Locked up, beaten with shovels in the basement”: how prisoners of workhouses are tortured

Fall 2021. Gloomy September morning. Employees of the traffic police of the traffic police of Elektrostal are on duty on a small road that leads from the Small Moscow Ring to the warehouses of the Wildberry company. The place was not chosen by chance: the Migrant operation is underway in the Moscow region, and traffic inspectors are well aware that there are a lot of visitors among the marketplace workers. So, there is a chance to identify hard workers without registration. But this time the catch exceeded all expectations.

The inspectors brake a small Ford Transit bus, which is clearly in a hurry to start its shift to the warehouse. They enter the salon. Inside – oppressive silence, full of people: 15-20 gloomy, untidy men.

“Are there foreigners?”

In response – no sound. Finally, one who, judging by his appearance, was born far outside the Russian Federation, begins to speak.

“We are being held by force. In the basement. They took away all the documents, forced to work for a penny, just about anything, they beat me right away. There are even children among us. Now the second bus will arrive, my friend is there, he is only 15 years old. Help us please”.

The others nodded in agreement. Of course the bus was delayed. While waiting for the second car, the driver was interviewed. His story only confirmed the guest worker’s appeal. The man said that, under an agreement, since the beginning of summer, he has been taking groups of migrants to warehouses from the Fryazevo station. Passengers are like a match: unwashed, dirty, many have bruises, no one talks to each other, their faces are frightened …. “It’s as if I’m taking some kind of penal battalion,” the driver shared his impression.

Each bus had an escort. One of them, Sergey Yurov (all names have been changed – ed. note), reluctantly confirmed that he was carrying a group of hard workers, they were busy building a warehouse roof. No one is held by force, but supervision is needed, otherwise everyone will scatter.

So the story of the workhouse began to unfold (the organizers themselves called it “working” – perhaps so that there would be no unnecessary associations with similar semi-slave-owning institutions in England). A large-scale criminal case that makes you think: how many of these are scattered around the Moscow suburbs? After all, degraded men who miraculously managed to escape from such establishments periodically turn to the editorial office of “MK”. The stories are very similar – I was looking for a job, some people came up, offered to do a coven, and then they locked me in a barracks, took away my documents, I had to plow from morning to night, but they didn’t pay anything. You won’t believe such stories right off the bat: how is it possible to kidnap a person in the middle of the 21st century in a city of many millions?

It turns out you can.

Stepan Pyatnitsky was the organizer of the working house in the Pushkin district. He is by no means marginal – the father of two children, he served in the special forces, visited hot spots, from where he always returned with awards. Among them, the gratitude of the commander of the special forces detachment of the Russian Guard “Rosich” stands out in particular. At the trial, he trumped medals “Motherland and Brotherhood”, “For Service in Special Forces”, a characteristic from the chairman of the board of the Russian Union of Veterans of Afghanistan.

Among his friends and business partners are comrades in arms, former contract servicemen, i.e. people who are accustomed to obey, command, use force. And if necessary, break the law without much thought. The same Yurov, for example, was on probation at the time of his arrest – he received 1.5 years probation for theft.

Everyone in this group had their own responsibilities. Someone lured new victims to the workhouse, someone guarded, someone was responsible for discipline and the delivery of labor force to the facilities. Moreover, as a result, not all members of the gang were brought to court – some, having heard about the detention of buses with guest workers, managed to escape.

In June 2021, Pyatnitsky rented a two-story house in the Zavety Ilyich microdistrict of the Pushkin city district. Hidden from prying eyes, a building with a basement and bars on the windows, enclosed by a high fence, is an ideal place to organize an illegal colony.

Recruitment took place in a variety of ways. The most primitive – the barker went to the area of ​​​​the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthree stations, looked closely at the local outcasts, chose those who were stronger, and began to “sing” about how you can make a cool living.

Victim B says: “I spent the night at the Kazan railway station, drinking beer, three men came up to me and asked if I wanted to earn extra money. I agreed because I needed money to return home. I was taken to a workhouse. We lived in the basement, where there were beds with two tiers. Stepan lived on the second floor, Yuri, who constantly beat everyone, lived elsewhere. Also, Zakhar often spent the night in the house – he was in charge of all the money. They explained to me that they would pay 600 rubles a day for various jobs, the working day was 8 hours. But for two weeks they didn’t pay me anything, only a month later they paid 7,800 rubles. It wasn’t all the money I made, so I had to stay. Besides, Stepan took my passport. The phone was also taken away, only after 3 weeks I was able to call my mother. They beat me only once, at work.”

Not all vagabonds, drunkards, or provincials who, by coincidence, found themselves without money in Moscow, ended up in the workhouse of their own free will. Here is the story of the victim G: he was drinking vodka in a public garden on Komsomolskaya Square, two people approached him, introduced themselves as policemen, and pushed him into a car. I woke up already in the Testaments of Ilyich.

Victim M: drinking wine, two people came up and offered to treat him with beer. Then he doesn’t remember anything. Woke up in the basement, he was told that he now works here.

Victim X is an Indian citizen, overstayed his Russian visa, got stuck in Moscow. He was approached by agitators at the Rostokino MCD station, who also offered him a good job and a salary. And again the same scheme: the road outside the city, the basement, bars on the windows.

In the cottage, the men immediately found themselves in the status of slaves. Documents, clothes, mobile phones, cards, and whatever small amounts they had were taken away while the newcomers took a shower. I left the shower room (by the way, there was only one cabin for 50-60 people) – and all your simple belongings were licked off like a cow with your tongue. Not everyone liked it. Some tried to download the rights and immediately leave the strange mansion. But this is where brute force comes into play.

.. Vasily Perepechko had 10 years of contract service behind him in the “zero” years. All positive characteristics and excellent ability to “solve issues”. Apparently, therefore, Pyatnitsky appointed him as the head of the house. He was even given the nickname “Brownie”. He distributed hard workers to facilities, gave out cigarettes and pacified troublemakers. The beating of the recalcitrant usually took place in his room – Perepechko himself lived in a mansion. They beat with sticks, a shovel handle, boxing gloves. After such an “educational conversation,” even the most daring lost the desire to resist.

The severity of the regime in the workhouse could be envied in another colony. Rise – at 4.30. Not too rich breakfast. By the way, the same homeless woman, like many of the captives, was responsible for cooking – she was also picked up at the Yaroslavl railway station. Then, under escort, the workers went to the station and got to Fryazevo by electric trains with a transfer. There are buses and the road to the warehouses. Working day until 18.00, then the same long way home. For the slightest disobedience – fist “lesson”. One guy was beaten right on the roof of the warehouse. Two days after that, he miraculously managed to escape when the group was traveling from work by train. This became the reason for the meeting: Pyatnitsky yelled that if this happens again, those who remain will be beaten by mortal combat. The ardent speech made an indelible impression on most hard workers.

The illegal colony worked for 4 months. It is naive to believe that one of the captives was satisfied – if not with working conditions, then at least with earnings. Initially, everyone was promised to pay 500-600 rubles a day, but in reality, hard workers received 4,200-5,000 rubles a month. The unfortunate Indian was paid 2,000 rubles at all. Some migrant workers were ready to leave without waiting for the promised salaries to be paid, but the answer was the same for everyone – either a fist, or (if you didn’t understand the first time) a fist in the nose.

Escape was almost impossible. The key is in the lock, bars on the windows, a two-meter fence. Yes, there was a small chance to sneak away (and some took advantage of it) during the trip to work – from work. But what was to be done next? After all, the documents remained hostage – hidden in Pyatnitsky’s office. So, be homeless again? And to start living from scratch without money and without a passport in our time is oh so difficult.

By the way, during a search of the organizer of the workhouse, they found a whole pile of passports, SNILS, military IDs, work books. Approximately the same number of documents – more precisely, burnt leaves – were found in the barbecue. Apparently, Stepan understood that someone else’s identity cards would be useless evidence in the event of an arrest.

Interestingly, many of the interrogated prisoners admitted that they had previously had experience of living in workers’ houses. It’s no secret that there are hundreds of such establishments in Russia. And from the point of view of legislation, many of them exist “on bird’s rights”. But never before, according to the victims, have they encountered such a clear abuse of what a person usually values ​​above all else – freedom of choice and movement.

Although Pyatnitsky and his friends had a different point of view. In the end, the defendants believed, their activities can be regarded as a blessing. After all, who are the inhabitants of the workhouse? Drunkards and idlers. If you don’t involve them in work, they will continue to drink in the park near three railway stations. But how to make a person work? From the point of view of the modern slave owner, there is only one way – to leave him no choice. Lock up, take away all the documents and intimidate half to death. Then it’s yours – and, almost for free.

This point of view is quite popular in modern society. Maybe this explains the outcome of the criminal case? None of the accused ended up in jail.

However, the migrant workers themselves are partly to blame for this. Although up to 60 people were constantly held captive in the workhouse, only 7 were eventually recognized as victims. Four vividly described the beatings to which they were subjected, their testimony was confirmed by witnesses. But there was no medical evidence. In fact, it would be naive to believe that the same Perepechko would first beat up the recalcitrant hard worker, and then call him a doctor. Therefore, all injuries, bruises, and dentitions have remained tales, on which the investigation cannot rely.

Of course, the glorious past of the group’s leaders also played a role, and even the fact that Pyatnitsky tried – as best he could – to make amends. He transferred 1,000 rubles to each of the victims. Nice pay raise!

As a result, Pyatnitsky and three of his friends received 2 years 2 months in prison, Yurov (since he had an outstanding conviction) – 2 years 4 months. But taking into account the time spent in the pre-trial detention center, it turned out that the organizers of the worker’s house had already served their time behind bars. And all five were released from custody.