Prosecutor's Office suspects head of Russian pre-trial detention center of rape of Ukrainian crew member of Sapphire ship

Alexey Gnipov , the head of the pre-trial detention center No. 2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Belgorod region, was served with a notice of suspicion for ill-treatment of a civilian.

According to the Court Reporter, the suspicion was published on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office.

"On February 25, 2022, the civilian search and rescue vessel Sapphire was carrying out an order of the Ukrainian Navy to search for and rescue the wounded and dead on Zmeinyi Island after artillery shelling by the Russian Federation," the prosecutor's office reminded.

On February 26, the Russian side got on the radio with the ship and ordered it to stop. Threatening with weapons, the Russian armed forces seized the Ukrainian vessel. From March 14 to March 24, the crew members were held in SIZO #2 in the city of Stary Oskol, Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. On March 24, they were returned to Ukraine, exchanged for Russian civilian sailors who were rescued from sunken ships near Odesa.

According to law enforcement officials, one of the detained crew members was subjected to physical, psychological and sexual violence in captivity.

"Upon arrival at the pre-trial detention center, during personal searches, the man was forced to undress in the presence of the warden, Aleksey Gnipov, and persons of the opposite sex. At the same time, one of the detention center's employees resorted to anal penetration into the victim's body under the pretext of a medical examination," the suspicion reads.

Later, an unidentified person, with the knowledge and direct participation of Hnipov, raped the prisoner with a wooden mop handle.

Earlier, a Russian serviceman who intimidated civilians in the Beryslav district of Kherson region and raped a local woman was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Another Russian soldier was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for raping a resident of Kherson region.

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