Convict Dadin's torture claim not confirmed so far - Russian Investigative Committee
MOSCOW. Nov 3 (Interfax) - Convict Ildar Dadin's claim that he was tortured has not been confirmed so far, the Russian Investigative Committee's department for Karelia said on Thursday.
"Explanations have now been received from the convict. Medical documents have been added to the inquiry files, and a forensic examination has been ordered and is being conducted. In addition to that, a healthcare staff member and employees of the penitentiary, as well as some of the inmates have been interviewed. Recordings from the penitentiary's CCTV cameras have been confiscated and are now being studied by investigators," the department said on its website.
"Any facts of the illegal use of physical force against the convict have not been confirmed so far," it said.
The Russian Investigative Committee's branch for the Republic of Karelia continues its inquiry, after which a procedural decision will be adopted.
Dadin is the first and so far the only person in Russia sentenced for repeated violation of established order in organizing or holding a rally, parade, procession or picket.
Moscow's Basmanny District Court found Dadin guilty of repeated violations of the law on rallies and sentenced him to three years in a penal colony. The Moscow City Court later reduced his sentence by six months.
On Tuesday, Dadin's wife Anastasia Zotova wrote on Facebook citing lawyer Alexei Liptser that the activist had been beaten up and subjected to torture in the penal colony, as well as threatened with murder.
In particular, over the course of one day in September the penal colony's director and about ten more employees had beaten him four times and put his head in a toilet, Dadin said, according to information written and conveyed by Liptser.
This statement sparked a public outcry.
For his part, the deputy director of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Institutions Service (FSIN), Valery Maximenko, said that Dadin's torture claim was not confirmed by the convict himself and his medical examination during a preliminary inquiry. Officials from the FSIN central office are taking part in this preliminary inquiry, Maximenko said. If the inquiry confirms any instance of abuse of power, including the use of illegal measures in relation to Dadin, the staff members responsible for it will be dismissed and investigators will work with them, he said.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be informed about the situation regarding Dadin.
