Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ More than 100 Russian convicts are being sent to the war in Ukraine from a prison colony in Kemerovo oblast, according to independent Russian media outlet Verstka, despite relatives' attempts to stop them enlisting with the Wagner PMC. Translation follows. ⬇️

2/ "Relatives of the convicts who are trying to ensure that the "volunteers" are not sent to the front told "Verstka" about the recruitment of prisoners in the colony IK-44 in Belovo.

3/ According to them, a PMC representative visited the colony on 28 October. The "man in camouflage" made a short speech and asked those "who want to go to war" to write applications.

4/ About 200 people expressed such a desire, but after interviews and selection 109 "volunteers" remained, who were placed in an isolated hut without communication with the outside world or the rest of the prison colony.

5/ "No one was forced, on the contrary, some were discouraged. Very young people in their 20s were even told they would only be taken in if they got permission from their parents. They also dissuaded any incomers.

6/ Four alcoholics were forced to take a run, after which they were told that they didn't need them," said one of the relatives, who wished to remain anonymous.

7/ The wife of another prisoner, Oleg Pecherskikh, who is serving a sentence for attempted murder, told Verstka that she is writing appeals to the Federal Penitentiary Service and the prosecutor's office about a criminal offence being committed in the colony.

8/ "My husband has been moved to a separate hut with the volunteers who are going to go to war from there. Yesterday he sent me a farewell letter through a comrade, so to speak. Their communication has been cut off and they cannot contact their relatives in any way.

9/ I got desperate. I called everywhere, the prosecutor's office, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the only place I could reach was the Human Rights Department. But they told me that he agreed to do it voluntarily.

10/ We don't know whether he agreed voluntarily or voluntarily-compulsorily – I do know that he wants to go home," said Olga.

Such appeals can help avoid sending prisoners to war, said Vladimir Klopotov, coordinator of Russia Behind Bars in Novosibirsk.

11/ "All these actions are illegal. Prisoners can only stay in places of detention; in fact, it turns out they are either escaping or being kidnapped.

12/ We recommend contacting the department of the Federal Penitentiary Service and the prosecutor's office because a criminal offence is being committed.

13/ In the European part of the country, there have been cases when inmates were removed from the list and kept in the colony in this way," the human rights defender explained.

14/ Relatives told Verstka that prisoners in penal colony 44 are offered a "standard package" - a salary of 200,000 rubles ($3,250), a pardon after six months, and 5 million rubles ($81,400) in case of death.

15/ According to the recruiter, "the survival rate is high, the losses are about 15%."

The founder of the Wagner PMC is businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. The media previously published videos showing Prigozhin personally recruiting prisoners in the colonies.

16/ According to Olga Romanova, head of Russia Behind Bars, more than 20,000 prisoners from all over the country have already been sent to war in Ukraine. /end

Source:
t.me/svobodnieslova…