Human rights defenders treat Nagavkin’s conditions of detention in penal colony as torture
An advocate of prisoner Igor Nagavkin and human rights defenders have claimed that the conditions of his detention in the Uryupinsk penal colony-settlement are “torturous.” A court has accepted for consideration an administrative claim in which Igor Nagavkin is challenging seven penalties imposed on him.
On May 16, a visiting hearing of the Uryupinsk District Court was held in the Uryupinsk penal colony-settlement on a claim request from the penitentiary institution’s administration to assign a “replacement of regime” for imprisoned human rights defender Igor Nagavkin and to transfer him to a common-security penal colony.
The judge accepted for consideration an administrative claim in which Igor Nagavkin is challenging seven penalties imposed on him. The judge refused to consider the claims filed by Igor Nagavkin earlier. “Due to the acceptance of the administrative claim for consideration, the court hearing on the ‘replacement of regime’ has been postponed,” advocate Platon Ananyev reports.
The defender has reminded a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that an earlier attempt by the penal colony’s administration to send Igor Nagavkin to a common-security penal colony through court failed. Before the trial, the Uryupinsk District Prosecutor’s Office recognized the penal colony’s decision on the malicious nature of Igor Nagavkin’s actions as unlawful. But soon the head of the penitentiary institution initiated a new process on the “replacement of regime.” All this time – from November 17 to the present – Igor Nagavkin has been held in the ShIZO (penal colony’s punishment cell) with short breaks.
About a hundred documents on violations have been drawn up against Igor Nagavkin. The prisoner is being searched in the punishment cell three times a day, stripped and his body searched.
“About a hundred documents on violations have been drawn up against Igor. He is searched in the punishment cell three times a day, stripped and his body searched. This is a humiliating procedure, and it has also no sense, since it is actually impossible to bring any prohibited items into the punishment cell. Parcels and statements of claim from him being placed to the punishment cell do not reach the outer world,” advocate Platon Ananyev claims.
At the same time, the advocate has noted that there were no cases of physical violence used against Igor Nagavkin. “The imprisoned human rights defender does not complain about deterioration of his health state. However, it can be noticed that he is exhausted. He is constantly being kept in a damp cell, and he does not go out for walks in order to avoid provocations. A medical officer examines him only before placing him in the punishment cell, and the medical officer does not find any contraindications for such detention,” the advocate reported.
Natalia Shirshina, a sister of Igor Nagavkin, stated that on April 30, the next term of her brother’s detention in the ShIZO (punishment cell) ended. Igor Nagavkin was released and was supposed to be locked up in the punishment cell again a day later. But during the May holidays, it was impossible to organize a commission in the penal colony that could assign a new punishment to Igor Nagavkin.
“That’s why they (penal colony employees) kept him in a detachment for three or four hours and locked him up again in the punishment cell,” stated Natalia Shirshina. The sister of Igor Nagavkin contacted the hotlines of the Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) and prosecutor’s office, where officials did not want to talk to her. “I told the prosecutor’s office that my brother’s life was in danger. A prosecutor on duty accepted my verbal appeal and said that she would send it to the Uryupinsk prosecutor,” Igor Nagavkin’s sister Natalia Shirshina explained.
The woman reported that Igor Nagavkin managed to call her and told her that he was charged with “refusing to perform community service work to clean up the area.” Soon Igor Nagavkin sent his sister a letter in which he asked her to pay the fees for his new lawsuits.
Natalia Shirshina spoke about the trial that took place on May 16. She also noted that the judge accepted only part of the complaints filed by Igor Nagavkin.
“After the trial, the advocate told me that he visited Igor and claimed that his situation had worsened,” Natalia Shirshina stated.
“The advocate told me that 100 reports with far-fetched violations had been filed against Igor. We don’t know the names of those who filed them. Other prisoners are afraid to communicate with Igor, since they can be placed in solitary confinement for ten days for communicating with him. There has already been such an example. My brother is under constant surveillance,” the sister of the imprisoned human rights defender has expressed her indignation.
“The advocate states that this is only the beginning of troubles. The defender has noted that Igor Nagavkin will be sent to a “replacement of regime” to a common-security penal colony and the situation will become even worse.”
Natalia Shirshina notes that now the family has stopped sending parcels for Igor, since he may not get them. “The advocate told us that Igor will be sent to a ‘replacement of regime’ to a common-security penal colony and the situation will become even worse,” the woman stated.
The sister of Igor Nagavkin has contacted the Volgograd Ombudsman’s office, where she was informed that “they had a whole bunch of appeals from Igor Nagavkin and Valentin Bogdan (defence attorney) since December (2024). Attached are responses (from supervisory authorities, – note of the ‘Caucasian Knot’) stating that inspections had been conducted.”
“Placing a person in a prison to an isolation ward for a long period of time, especially more than six months, can be perceived as torture conditions, based on the practice of international bodies and their assessments of keeping people in conditions of so-called incommunicado,” Olga Sadovskaya, the deputy head of the “Team Against Torture”*, told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
The human rights defender explained that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and United Nations (UN) treaty bodies have repeatedly spoken out on the issue of keeping prisoners in complete isolation.
“The studies show that prolonged isolation can lead to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and psychosis. The European Court of Human Rights takes these factors into account in its decisions when assessing the conditions of detention of prisoners,” noted Olga Sadovskaya, the deputy head of the “Team Against Torture”*.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 20, 2025 at 01:08 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
*The “Team against Torture” (TaT, formerly the “Committee against Torture” – CaT) was created by the lawyers who had earlier worked for the CaT, which was included into the register of the NCOs performing the functions of foreign agents.