Management of Odesa detention center suspended from work

The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has launched an internal investigation into a possible violation of the rights of a person held in the Odesa pre-trial detention center.

According to the press service of the SPSU, the reason was a video posted online in which illegal actions were committed against the citizen by persons in the same cell with him.

Despite the fact that there is no expert opinion on the authenticity of the video yet, the management of the SIZO was suspended from duty for the duration of the inspection. In addition, a team from the management of the Department for the Execution of Criminal Sentences was sent to the Odesa Pretrial Detention Center to check for possible human rights violations and to clarify all the circumstances of the incident.

On November 11, 2025, the Odesa pre-trial detention center was headed by Serhiy Nikitin, then a colonel of the Internal Service. According to the NGO Non-Stop Ukraine, which published the video that led to the inspection, Serhiy Nikitin orders his subordinates to extort from the detainees from 2 to 15 thousand US dollars, and if a person is unable to pay, he abuses them. In particular, in the video, the man in the frame forces another man to bring him slippers in his teeth, crawling on all fours and calling him a dog.

As for the person being humiliated, the public figures claim that he is an employee of the TCC, from whom they actually tried to extort money, but he was unable to pay 10 thousand US dollars.

"According to our data, the 'watcher' of the 6th building, Ruslan Stadnikov, nicknamed 'Pillow' and a person nicknamed 'Sportik', who acted on the direct orders of the SIZO management, took part in this arbitrariness. In addition, Roman Batumsky and Igor Ilnytsky (aka 'Motyl') were involved in intimidating prisoners," Non-Stop Ukraine said.

Кирило Бойко