A detainee at a pretrial detention center who taunted a detained TCC fighter has been charged with torture

Odessa police have charged an inmate at the Odessa pretrial detention center with torture.

According to the press office of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Odessa region, the case involves a scandal surrounding a video in which an inmate is forced to carry a pair of slippers in his teeth and is called a dog.

According to the investigation, in late May, in a cell block of the high-security wing of the Odessa Pretrial Detention Center, a 45-year-old inmate with prior convictions for theft, robbery, and armed robbery—who was at that time a suspect in yet another armed robbery—began to bully a newly arrived 50-year-old cellmate. The suspect deliberately provoked a confrontation, after which he humiliated and beat the newcomer, forced him to kneel and carry slippers in his teeth, while recording everything on video. 

If the pretrial detainee is found guilty, he faces up to six years in prison, in addition to the charges he was previously suspected of.

Earlier,Intentreportedthat the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine had launched an internal investigation into a possible violation of the rights of a person held at the Odesa Pretrial Detention Center.The detention center’s managementhas been suspended from their duties for the duration of the investigation.

In addition, a teamof senior officialsfrom the Department for the Enforcement of Criminal Sentences was dispatched to the Odesa Pretrial Detention Center to investigate the possible human rights violation and clarify all the circumstances of the incident.

Subsequently, the State Bureau of Investigations stated that the victim was a member of a criminal group consisting of employees of the Odesa Regional Recruitment and Social Support Center, which had set up a torture chamber within the center. They enlisted the help of three representatives of a local civil society organization, who assisted in tracking down citizens and gathering information about them. SBI investigators documented numerous instances of cruel treatment of the victims. The men were unlawfully detained on the premises of the recruitment center, beaten, intimidated, and subjected to psychological pressure. The investigation also established specific instances of sexual violence committed against the victims.

Кирило Бойко