Marcel Amirov, a victim of savage torture, was convicted of false denunciation: “Nothing happened”

The court sentenced to 1.5 years in prison Marcel Amirov, an inhabitant of the infamous Kirov colony “Black Woodpecker”, who disclosed to the members of the HRC, and then to the investigation and the prosecutor’s office, the torture scheme of the IK (indicating the names of all involved employees and “activists”). After that, the convict, according to him, was subjected to unthinkable pressure from the jailers. And now they have added his term, having condemned “slander” under Article 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Marseille will sit in the same colony where, according to him, he and others were brutally tortured in front of him.

A bit of history. During the inspection of Penal Code No. 6 at the end of 2021, members of the HRC (myself, the late Andrey Babushkin and Igor Kalyapin) received multiple reports of violence, including sexual violence. The prisoners said that they were forced to eat feces, kiss the soles of the jailers’ boots, and many other things that did not fit in their heads. But all this the convicts said “not under the protocol”, because they were afraid of reprisals. Only a few people we managed to persuade to give official testimony. Among them was Marcel Amirov. He risked more than others, because by that time he was in good standing in the colony, he was promised parole. And he staked everything.

remember our conversation with him. I looked into his eyes, saw how they widened with memories of the horror experienced. “It shouldn’t be like this,” he whispered. – Tell people about it. Stop it!”

We tried. After Marcel gave official testimony, he was transferred at our request to another colony, but in the same region. Amirov told us through a lawyer that operatives from the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Kirov Region approached him and strongly recommended that he withdraw his allegations of torture. He did not retract his testimony, for which he was subjected, according to him, to monstrous pressure.

“I ask you to transfer Marcel Amirov to serve his sentence from the Kirov region to another region while the investigation is underway on his statement about the use of torture in the Kirov colony No. 6,” I sent such an appeal to the Federal Penitentiary Service. There was also the signature of the chairman of the HRC. The answer is no reason.

Moreover, Amirov was also returned to the same Black Woodpecker colony, in which he spoke about torture. How can this be? Neither I nor Igor Kalyapin could believe it (Babushkin had already died by that time).

In general, if three members of the Human Rights Council, three experts on the prison topic come to the conclusion that Amirov is not lying, that his life is in danger, could this unwillingness be heeded? But we were hinted that the head of the Black Woodpecker probably had too powerful patrons.

And the investigator of the Omutnensky Interdistrict Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the ICR Makhneva did not initiate criminal proceedings on the facts reported by Amirov and five other convicts of the Black Woodpecker. Do you know how she checked the prisoner’s messages? Interrogated those whom he pointed out as tormentors. They said, “No, we didn’t beat him, we didn’t torture him.” This answer satisfied her.

And against Amirov, the investigator decided to initiate a case under Article 306 of the Criminal Code “Knowingly false denunciation”. The crime was uncovered, the prosecutor approved the indictment, and the court pronounced a guilty verdict on Marcel.

I have the document in my hands, I showed it to several experts. So here’s the most amazing thing. The investigation conducted a check in those places where, according to him, Amirov was tortured (the methods are listed in the verdict). This is a quarantine room, ShIZO, etc. Conclusion: “Traces of biological fluids were not found.”

But let me tell you, in one of the cases, Amirov spoke about the events of 2018 (when he had just arrived at the colony and underwent an “acceptance” procedure, during which he was mocked for several hours – strangled, beaten, drowned in feces, etc.), in others about later ones, but still at least a year has passed. What traces could be preserved in the premises that were washed and washed during this time a hundred, if not a thousand times?

In 2018, Amirov received injuries that were recorded in the colony as a “fall”. At the same time, he “refused” in writing to meet with a lawyer. Both the investigation and the court were not alarmed by this, on the contrary, they just considered this evidence: everything was fine with him. Can you imagine it?!

I do not know how Amirov passed this trial, which can be regarded as a mockery of common sense. Psychologists, who studied Amirov’s testimony at my request, are convinced that not only is he not lying, he received a serious psychological trauma from the torture he endured.

It must have been even harder for him now. But it is unlikely that anyone will worry about his life in IK No. 6. Immediately after our visit there, and even on the day of the defense of human rights, 29-year-old Konstantin Dolgikh died there (a programmer convicted of acquiring and possessing drugs). The day before, he wrote home: “The prosecutor came and asked about that “wonderful” colony! I did not remain silent and said it like it is. After this letter, he did not live even a month. However, all these facts did not alert the judge

Exactly such a story once happened in the Yaroslavl colony. Tolibokhodzhi Kurbonov was brought in for a false denunciation when he said that he had been beaten. Then the investigation questioned the tormentors, and they answered: “No, they didn’t beat or torture.” Human rights activists took up this case and achieved an acquittal for Kurbonov. “But it was wildly difficult,” says lawyer Alexei Fedyarov. – Everyone understood that the man was tortured, but calmly, rather indifferently, they “threw” him a term. So that others do not complain.

So, the judge then believed Kurbonov! And she acquitted him. And the next day, a shocking video from this colony appeared, in which prisoner Yevgeny Makarov was beaten. He was beaten by those employees who were pointed out by Kurbonov. Maybe the Kirov judge, who found Marcel guilty, did not hear about this story? Or maybe in the current conditions they think that everyone is not up to the fight against torture?