After hostage-taking in Surovikino and Rostov-on-Don, law enforcers point to FSIN's blunders

The institutions of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) have staff deficit; and those who work there with great overloads have modest salaries, which contributes to corruption and violation of safety rules for personal gains. This was stated by law enforcers in their comments on the hostage-taking incidents that occurred in Surovikino and Rostov-on-Don. Oppressions of Muslims are practiced in almost all penal colonies located in Muslim regions, human rights defenders have added.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 23, in Colony No. 19 located in the town of Surovikino (Volgograd Region), four prisoners (natives of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), declaring themselves supporters of the "Islamic State" (IS)*, took 12 people hostage. Three colony employees were killed, another one later died in hospital. Later, the "Kommersant" informed that another colony employee died in hospital, but this information was not officially confirmed. As a result of the assault, the hostage-takers were killed. The penal colony in Surovikino has extremely poor custody conditions; and provocations against Muslims are practiced there, which could lead to a riot, Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender, has suggested.

The hostage-takings in Surovikino and Rostov-on-Don have shown systemic problems with ensuring security at FSIN institutions, Sergey Goncharov, the president of the Association of Veterans of "Alpha" Counterterrorist Units, has stated.

"The prisoners who are serving their terms for terrorism and extremism should be kept in special zones without any contacts with other prisoners who have committed ordinary criminal offenses. Their contacts and communication should be forbidden," he said.

According to Amir Kolov, a retired colonel of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), violations of Muslims' rights and abuses in colonies lead to disastrous consequences. In jails, instead of correcting their behaviour and raising law-abiding and honest people, Muslims are forbidden to pray, Islam rugs and other attributes are taken away, and unjustified punishments are applied.

The fact that the hostage-takers were sentenced for drug dealing and murders, and in the colony they became supporters of the radical ideology is a common occurrence, Alexander Verkhovsky, the head of the "Sova" Research Centre**, is sure. According to his story, IS* supporters always cite oppressions of Muslims as one of the reasons for their actions.

*On December 29, 2014, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the organization "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL or IS) as a terrorist international organization and banned its activities in Russia.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.