The Sverdlovsk District Court of Irkutsk sentenced six prisoners in the case of torture of cellmate Takhirzhon Bakiev in Irkutsk Correctional Colony No. 6, the human rights project “Gas Station 38” reported.
All of them were found guilty of violent acts of a sexual nature committed by a group of people and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm with the use of objects used as weapons (clause “a” of part 2 of article 132 of the Criminal Code and clause “h” Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code).
The verdict was announced the day before, on April 10. Artyom Pavlov and Yevgeninya Lukashenko were each sentenced to seven years in a special regime colony, Denis Ryazantsev — six years in a special regime colony, Vladimir Dudin and Vladimir Glukhikh — six years in a maximum security colony, Yuri Tsevun — five years in a special regime colony.
In 2019, Tuvan Takhirjon Bakiev was sentenced to seven years in prison for weapons theft. In October 2021, he was transferred from Angarsk IK-15, where the riot occurred, to Irkutsk IK-6.
In Irkutsk, the “convicted developers” began to “insult the Muslim Bakiyev and tore up the Koran.” Because of this, in January the convict turned to the administration of the penal colony and was subsequently subjected to severe torture. The Gulagu.net project reported that six prisoners beat Bakiyev and shoved a mop into his anus, “tearing his intestines.” After that, they kept Bakiyev under bunks for two days.
Two months before the verdict, prisoners accused of torture learned that Takhirjon Bakiyev died in IK-6. About this “Siberia. Realities” was told by the prisoner’s sister Nargiz Bakiyeva.
The human rights project “Refueling 38” reported that Bakiyev committed suicide. Human rights activists allegedly attached to the publication Bakiyev’s last letter, which ended with the words “Help, please, I can’t cope on my own. I don’t want to die here with the wording that I am.”
Yesterday, the court stopped proceedings on Bakiyev's claim for compensation for moral damage in connection with his death.
Human rights activist Svyatoslav Khromenkov, who represented Bakiyev's interests in court, called the prisoner's sentence fair. He noted that not all defendants admitted guilt — some argued that their actions “were not of a sexual nature.” For example, Tsevun explained that he “just brought a handle from a mop.”
In 2023, a court in Irkutsk sentenced FSIN employees Alexei Agapov, Alexandra Mednikov and Anton Erokhin to five years in prison in the case of abuse of power (points “a”, “c” of part 3 of article 286 of the Criminal Code). According to the verdict, all three knew about what was happening in the colony and did nothing. Human rights activists insisted that the security forces themselves initiated the torture.
One of the witnesses in the case was former prisoner Alexander Bunkin. At the end of last year it became known that he refused to testify against IK officers under pressure from the Federal Penitentiary Service.