“These are crimes that must be resolved to the end,” said Putin on Thursday at his annual press conference in Moscow.
A punishment is inevitable. So far, 17 proceedings have already been initiated. Even if it is about prisoners who have committed a crime or are suspected of it, one must “behave humanely towards them”.
Lawlessness in Russian prisons
The torture videos from a prison hospital in Saratov city and other regions caused widespread horror. For this reason, Putin fired the head of the national penal system a month ago. The move was considered a confirmation of the authenticity of the recordings. Scenes of severe abuse of men were shown, including rape with objects.
The prominent moderator and former presidential candidate Xenia Sobchak addressed Putin at the press conference about the “lawlessness” in Russian prisons and asked what the state was doing to protect prisoners. In Irkutsk alone, 300 people were mistreated in a detention center. It is a problem with the system.
The Kremlin chief replied that there were such problems in every country. He cited France and the United States as examples. A law was recently passed in the Russian parliament to harsher punishment for prison guards who brutally attack detainees.