RUSSIAN investigators said six individuals, including two officials, have been charged over the rape and torture of prisoners in a case that drew widespread condemnation from rights groups.

A prisoner advocacy group last year published harrowing footage of sexual abuse at a jail in the central city of Saratov. It was leaked by former inmate Sergei Savelyev, who fled Russia and requested asylum in France.

The head of the investigative committee, which handles serious crimes, said six people are facing legal action.

“Four convicts are charged with committing violent acts of a sexual nature,” Alexander Bastrykin told state news agency RIA Novosti in an interview published today.

He said two officials are facing charges of abuse of power, but did not specify who they are.

“Their goal is extortion and intimidation,” he said, adding that authorities are investigating incidents involving 13 victims.

Videos of alleged rape and torture at the prison infirmary are published by rights group Gulagu.net, which aims to expose abuses in the vast prison system in Russia.

Vladimir Osechkin, who oversees Gulagu.net, told AFP that convicts in Saratov and other facilities have been abused for years and authorities have turned a blind eye to reports of mistreatment.

President Vladimir Putin had in November dismissed the head of the prison service in the wake of video leaks, and more than a dozen officials were fired over the revelations. – AFP, January 13, 2022.