Direct Translation via Google Translation. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] There is a shortage of staff in the FSIN institutions, and those who are there work long hours for modest salaries, which contributes to the development of corruption and violation of safety rules for personal gain, emphasized the security officials interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", commenting on the hostage-taking in Surovikino and Rostov-on-Don. The oppression of Muslims is practiced in almost all colonies in Muslim regions, added human rights activists.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", on August 23, in Penal Colony No. 19 in Surovikino, four prisoners (natives of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), declaring themselves supporters of the "Islamic State", took 12 people hostage. Three employees of the colony were killed, another later died in the hospital, his death was reported by the Volgograd Region Health Committee. Later, Kommersant, citing the same agency, reported that another employee of the colony died in the hospital, this information was not officially confirmed.
As a result of the assault, the participants in the seizure were killed. In Penal Colony No. 19 in Surovikino, where the prisoners took the employees of the colony hostage, the living conditions are extremely poor, and provocations against Muslims are practiced, which could have led to a riot, said human rights activist Igor Nagavkin. Human rights activist Anna Karetnikova and journalist Vyacheslav Lemkus are sure that the reason for the incident was the dehumanization of the FSIN system. The Federal Penitentiary Service Directorate for the Volgograd Region called the data on poor living conditions and oppression of Muslims fake, without providing evidence to support their words.
The hostage-takings in Surovikino and Rostov have demonstrated systemic problems with ensuring security in FSIN institutions, says Sergei Goncharov, president of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha Anti-Terrorist Unit.
"Prisoners who are serving time for terrorism and extremism must be kept in special zones and not come into contact with other prisoners who have committed ordinary criminal offenses. Their contacts and communication must not be allowed. And the operational unit must work with them day and night, monitor them. Unfortunately, not a single colony has this practice for two reasons.
Firstly, the FSIN is short of about 35 percent of employees throughout Russia, and secondly, FSIN employees do not receive a large enough salary to support their families, and they use different methods to earn money. For example, they allow prisoners to use the phone for money. This is a systemic problem in the FSIN, so there is nothing surprising or unexpected in the hostage-taking in two colonies. As long as the above-mentioned problems exist, such incidents will happen," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to him, the colonies buy jammers, but, as a rule, they are ineffective. "These colonies had jammers, but in some cases they simply do not work, and in others they are ineffective. But the jammers are just one episode showing the fact of the problem in the colonies. I emphasize once again that the problem is not in the jammers, but in the systemic problems and the unwillingness to fix them. Replacing one head of the FSIN with another will not solve these systemic problems," he said.
TODAY, THERE IS AN UNDERMINING OF PERSONNEL WORK IN THE FSIN SYSTEM
Russian Interior Ministry Colonel Amir Kolov does not believe that there was a surprise effect in the hostage taking in Russian colonies.
"In the hostage-taking in Russian prisons, it must be said, there are no surprise effects. If the current situation in the Russian FSIN system continues, we may face not only hostage-taking and reprisals against FSIN employees, but also more sophisticated and serious crimes and actions by Russian prisoners. The most important circumstance is that today there is an undermining of personnel work in the FSIN system. Thus, along with the monstrous theft of funds, we are talking about billions of rubles allocated from the Russian budget to ensure the functioning of the FSIN system, committed by the former head of the FSIN Alexander Reimer ( accused of embezzlement in the amount of about 3 billion rubles, - note of the "Caucasian Knot" ) and other adventurers, whom the Russian special services stubbornly do not want to bring to justice, there is a colossal shortage of personnel in the FSIN system.
According to available information, in the FSIN units, especially in the prisons of central Russia, there is a shortage of more than 50 percent of employees, in whose responsibilities include directly ensuring security in places of detention," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
As a result of low salaries and long overtime hours, FSIN employees often violate safety rules for personal gain.
"At the same time, FSIN employees perform double and triple workloads with overtime, but receive a meager salary of 25 thousand rubles per month. At the same time, there is also no other motivation, there is absolutely no professional and moral ideology or even basic generally accepted human concepts.
All this taken together contributes to the development of corruption, criminal conspiracy and organized crime in the prison and other FSIN systems, as a result of which any prohibited items, including weapons, can be brought into prison. This is also evidenced by the reprisals against FSIN employees in prisons in Volgograd, Kursk, Rostov-on-Don and other regions of Russia," he emphasized.
In places of deprivation of liberty, instead of ensuring the system’s activity to correct behavior and educate law-abiding and honest people, Muslims are prohibited from praying, rugs, rosaries and other attributes of Islam are taken away, and unjustified, illegal punishments are applied.
According to him, violations of Muslim rights and abuse of them in colonies lead to disastrous consequences.
"Along with the above circumstances that contribute to riots and reprisals against employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, it should be noted that in Russian prisons, employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation commit bullying, insults and other mass violations of constitutional and other human rights based on their national origin and religion, especially in relation to Muslims.
In places of deprivation of liberty, instead of ensuring the system's activities to correct behavior and educate law-abiding and honest people, Muslims are prohibited from praying, rugs, rosaries and other attributes of Islam are taken away, unjustified, illegal punishments are applied and other arbitrariness is committed, which provokes prisoners to protest actions, creating conditions for radicals and marginalized people to manipulate prisoners who have been subjected to unfair and illegal actions by prison employees," he explains.
"There was oppression of Muslims. When they were placed in punishment cells, their Korans and rugs were taken away from them. Although according to the Constitution and laws, these items are allowed when kept in punishment cells and punishment cells," human rights activist Igor Nagavkin previously told the "Caucasian Knot."
As for the jammers that are purchased by the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, they are not always effective, Kolov is sure.
"It should be noted that this equipment is purchased in China. Firstly, these jammers are not always in good working order, and secondly, they do not cover the frequencies of all communication operators at the same time. At the same time, it is not difficult for prisoners to find out which frequency is switched off or working on which days. There are also cases when prison management, in collusion with prisoners and for corrupt gains, switches off jammers, switching them on only during inspections by control and supervisory bodies," he noted.
The fact that the participants in the seizure were imprisoned for drugs and murder, and in the colony became supporters of radical ideology is a common occurrence, believes the head of the Sova Research Center*, Alexander Verkhovsky.
"This used to happen all the time. Actually, for all the years that the topic of persecuting radical Islamists has existed, for so many years I remember conversations about how they have a bad influence on other prisoners and convert them to their ideology. And who are these other prisoners? These are prisoners who have committed ordinary criminal offenses. This problem has always existed, it has not become systemic now," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
The hostage-taking took place at a meeting of the disciplinary commission, where cases of malicious violators are considered, among other things. The participants in the hostage-taking declared themselves supporters of the terrorist organization "Islamic State", banned in Russia by the court, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report.
According to him, supporters of the Islamic State always point to the oppression of Muslims as one of the reasons for their actions.
"We don't know how things were with the oppression of Muslims in this colony. It's different everywhere. It's clear that religious life in a colony cannot be full-fledged. If there is some specific arbitrariness on the part of the FSIN employees, such as, for example, shortening the beard, banning namaz, then, yes, this can become a reason for a riot. But on the other hand, it seems to me that any supporter of the "Islamic State" will say that one of the reasons for some acts is the oppression of Muslims. This is part of their ideology. It would be strange to hear anything else from them," he noted.
He also added that the recruitment of people by supporters of the Islamic State** occurs everywhere, including in the colonies.
"I think that an ISIS member who ends up in a colony can recruit prisoners there. But they do this outside as well. It seems to me that there is no particular difference. There is a danger that in the colonies there could be some kind of fusion of ISIS members** with some organized criminal groups, but I have not heard of such a thing yet," Verkhovsky said.
The hostage-taking in Surovikino was the second in the Southern Federal District in three months. It was preceded by a similar incident that occurred in mid-June in the Rostov pretrial detention center. In both cases, the attackers declared themselves supporters of the "Islamic State". The details were collected by the "Caucasian Knot" in the report " Hostage Taking in the Volgograd Colony and Rostov Pretrial Detention Center in the Summer of 2024 ".
The fact that the participants in the seizure were imprisoned for drugs and murder, and in the colony became supporters of radical ideology, is not becoming a systemic phenomenon, believes the human rights activist of the Memorial Human Rights Center.
"This cannot be a systemic phenomenon. In colonies, in order to survive, people must join some group. For Muslims, such a group can only be a Muslim group, and in Arabic this is a jamaat. It should not be and does not have a radical ideology," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to him, Muslims are persecuted in almost all colonies, but not everywhere do they resort to capturing FSIN employees.
"The reasons that the participants of the seizure in this colony named, they exist almost everywhere in colonies located in non-Islamic regions. In this colony, a small group managed to do this. But this does not happen everywhere," he said.
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