A disturbing new video has been released from Russia’s jail service that shows how prisoners were tortured in an infamous prison.
MailOnline reviewed the video and found that at least five of them were subject to abuse, including urination, rape by male prisoners and physical violence with blunt objects.
Campaigners allege that OTB-1 was the location of the shocking abuse, which took place close to Russia’s border with Kazakhstan.
The inmates claimed that they were forced to confess to abuse, and blackmailed using the footage to get them to lie to others or to become prison informants.
A disturbing new video has emerged showing horrendous sexual abuse and rape of Russian prison inmates. It was filmed under guard observation.
Video footage shows at least five prisoners being urinated upon, raped and violated by male inmates in a Saratov prison hospital.
This is the latest disturbing video in a series that was leaked from prisonhouse archives by an ex-inmate and sent to Gulagu.net, a human rights website.
Activists writing on the website said officers in Russia’s Federal Prison Service (FSIN) and FSB spy agency oversaw the ‘conveyor belt’ of abuse at OTB-1.
According to them, gangs of criminal rapists worked as caretakers and orderlies at the hospital in order to cover their presence if they were questioned.
Campaigners claim that their real job was to abuse inmates routinely as part of an ‘criminal plot’ within the prison.
Films of the rapes were taken and sent to the FSIN/FSB for archive and blackmail.
The campaigners claim that the operation took place with senior officials from both agencies knowing and could have continued for up to a decade.
Although the videos they currently have are from Saratov, they claim they’re working to uncover similar schemes in other prisons across the country.
A post at the site states that hundreds of documents and videos were collected. This confirms both the mass nature of torture in FSIN Institutions and the involvement of FSB officials in a range of crimes and violations.
A former prisoner leaked the footage, claiming he had been given the task of archiving it in order to pressure prisoners into engaging in abuse.
Gulagu is blocked from the Russian internet and Vladimir Osechkin, the site’s founder, is in hiding in France – but the videos have still caused outcry back home.
Numerous prison officials were dismissed while an extensive investigation was underway. 38 high-ranking officers are due to testify in the matter today.
Osechkin claims to have been given the videos by Sergei Savelyev, a Belarusian former inmate of the jail who claims he was asked to archive the footage – and managed to smuggle some out of the country after his release.
Now also living in France where he is claiming asylum, Savelyev’s trove of material allegedly reveals the abuse of 40 prisoners – though campaigners say anecdotally the true number of victims is around 200, and could be more.
The first batch of footage was released last month, with footage including a man screaming in pain as he is violated with a mop handle, one male prisoner raping another who is tied to a bed, and a group of inmates urinating on another man.
Savelyev is a former programer who claims to have been “beaten and tortured” before he was employed as a “professional” to record the collection of abuse videos.
According to activists, abuses were recorded in Saratov, Vladimir and Irkutsk regions, TransBaikal, TransBaikal, Kamchatka.
Activists allege that senior officials of Russia’s spy agency FSB and the Russian prison service knew about the campaign and approved it.
Campaigners allege that they were given a 40Gb collection of video by an inmate, who was charged with documenting sick material.
Human Rights Watch’s Tanya Lokshina stated that while her organization could not confirm the videos, the footage “gave cause for serious concern.”
“The issue of torture in Russian penitentiaries has been very serious, and the government is not doing enough for effective investigation, security and whistleblower protection, as well as accountability of perpetrators,” she stated.
Russian prison conditions are already under scrutiny after Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic and jailed earlier in the year brought attention to them.
Six former prisoners and a former inspector of prisons spoke out about the brutal beatings and sexual assaults that guards used on them, as well as their treatment for medical neglect.
Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), claimed it had dismissed five high-ranking prison officials including the director and head of the regional jail service.
Russian law states that inmates should not be treated harshly or with a low standard of human dignity.
Prison officials can get up to 10 years in prison if they abuse their position.
Leaker – A Belarussian prisoner held in Saratov (pictured) has since been released. The man is seeking asylum in West.