Crowd near Kopeisk colony was ready for provocations - ombudsman
CHELYABINSK. Nov 26 (Interfax) - Alexei Sevastyanov, human rights ombudsman in the Chelyabinsk region, believes hundreds of people agreed to gather near Penal Colony N6 in Kopeisk.
"I won't believe that 300 people gathered near the colony spontaneously. On Saturday evening, I talked to a man named Sergei, who is 'in charge' of Kopeisk. He showed me his phone and I saw over 1,000 phone calls there. Apparently, it was arranged and the people had discipline, they were waiting for a result, they played by the notes," the ombudsman told a press conference in Chelyabinsk on Monday.
He reiterated that not more than seventy people in that crowd were parents of inmates. They were standing separately and the others were drunken young men, who were ready to cause trouble.
"When I approached the OMON line to enter the territory of the colony, I heard someone say 'Throw something at the OMON, why are you just standing there.' There were provocations," Sevastyanov said.
Sevastyanov said questions are being asked as to why the law enforcement agencies let that happen.
"How did the law enforcement agencies let 300 people gather without anyone knowing about that? Who planned it all? Criminals? The police need to investigate," he said.
A total of 250 convicts assembled in the corridor of the institution's living quarters before lunch on Saturday and demanded that the terms of confinement be eased, namely, that several convicts be released from the punishment cell where they had been confined for breaking internal regulations. The convicts did not put forward any other demands.
Vladimir Turbanov, the head of the Main Department of the Federal Service on the Enforcement of Punishments for the Chelyabinsk region, and Alexander Yakovlev, Chelyabinsk prosecutor in charge of the observance of laws in corrections establishments, and the OMON police have gone to the colony.
A probe was launched to look into all the circumstances of the incident. The situation at the institution is under control, the local department of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) reported.
However, human rights activists claim that some 300 relatives of convicts gathered outside of the institution and the OMON riot police used force against them. They say both relatives and passers-by were affected.
Some 300 relatives of inmates gathered at the colony building. The police detained 38 people who were under the influence of alcohol. They were taken to police stations in Kopeisk and Chelyabinsk, where administrative protocols were made. Eight OMON special task police officers were injured while curbing administrative violations near the colony.
A probe was launched to look into all of the circumstances of the incident. The situation at the institution is under control, the local department of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) reported on Monday morning.