Crimean convicts threaten mass suicide

In Kerch Correctional Centre No. 139 (where prisoners are held for non-serious offences), inmates are prepared to commit mass suicide as a protest against the new management of the penal institution. According to them, the centre has been transformed into a Gestapo-style camp; they have stopped distributing bread and have imposed a tribute on every movement the prisoners make. The final straw was the suicide of 27-year-old Anton Sokolov, a resident of Gurzuf, who was due to be released in just a few months. In an attempt to cover up the incident, the centre’s staff have attributed the cause of the suicide to personal problems. However, the inmates insist that it was the centre’s management who drove Anton to suicide.

This was reported by ‘Pervaya Krymskaya’ (‘The First Crimean’), as relayed by the ‘Krym.Kommentarii’ (‘Crimea.Comments’) website.

According to the publication, the new management (the deputy head of the centre), showing no shame regarding their financial appetites, extorts money from the convicts and their relatives almost officially: 100 UAH per day to travel home, 1000 UAH to be admitted to the hospital, and 75 UAH per person per day for meetings with loved ones. Furthermore, for a thousand dollars, the administration guarantees the convict a life of relative luxury, comparable to a health resort, and parole.

Anton Sokolov was vulnerable, naive, and trusting. The deputy head would typically recruit such individuals as informants. He was very surprised when Sokolov refused to snitch on his comrades. Then, as the convicts wrote in their letters, he turned the young man’s life into a ‘living hell’. He promised parole many times. To achieve this, the young man had to repair or buy something each time.

As the convicts testify, a few days before his suicide, Anton had a conflict with the management. He was allowed to bring a tape recorder into the centre (which is not forbidden there), but it was subsequently confiscated. At that moment, Anton’s nerves were frayed; he suffered a hysterical breakdown, screaming and sobbing bitterly. For this, he was yet again placed in solitary confinement, where prisoners are forced to sit for days without food or water. Upon being released from solitary, Sokolov discovered that his television had also been taken. The deputy head promised to return it if he painted a utility room at his own expense. Anton called his mother, who transferred the money to his card. However, after he had painted the room and reported it, the deputy head swore at him in the presence of other prisoners and advised him to forget about the equipment. ‘A few hours later, Anton was found hanged. The photo shows that Anton’s face was covered in abrasions. It was as if he had been dragged face-first across the asphalt; his knuckles on both hands were battered, and there were haematomas on his right ear,’ the publication writes.

For the centre’s management, this incident was a complete surprise; the prisoners were forced to write false explanations stating that Anton had committed suicide because of his girlfriend.

The publication notes that the convicts of this colony, driven to the brink of despair, are prepared to commit mass suicide and are appealing to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Department of Corrections, and the Human Rights Ombudsman, attaching anonymous letters and audio recordings of the convicts’ testimonies to investigate the situation.