Nagavkin placed to punishment cell after criticizing penal colony

Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender from Kalach-on-Don, has been placed to a punishment cell in a penal colony where he is serving his sentence for disrupting the operation of a SIZO (pre-trial prison). The formal reason was a book lying on his nightstand, but human rights defenders believe that Igor Nagavkin has been punished for complaining about the conditions of detention in the penitentiary institution.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 26, Igor Nagavkin was found guilty of disrupting the operation of a SIZO in Leninsk. Following a complaint filed by the prosecutor’s office, the Volgograd Regional Court replaced the Igor Nagavkin’s suspended two-year sentence with a real one in a penal colony. The human rights defender from Kalach-on-Don complained about the conditions of detention in the penal colony in the Volgograd Region, where he is serving his sentence, and requested an investigation.

Valentin Bogdan, the acting chair of the “For the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights” Foundation*, reported that the reason for the punishment of Igor Nagavkin “allegedly was a book lying on his nightstand.”

“A clear disproportion between the violation and the punishment. This often happens in penal colonies when a prisoner tries to fight for his rights, as Igor is doing now. He will most likely appeal against the punishment. If the measure is recognized as truly unlawful, Igor Nagavkin may demand compensation for moral and material damage. But he will have to serve his term in a punishment cell, since the appeal period is three months,” Valentin Bogdan explained.

Lawyer Sergey Ivaschenko explained that the maximum stay in a punishment cell (ShIZO) is 15 days.

“Prisoners placed to a punishment cell have a number of additional restrictions. They are prohibited from being visited, making phone calls, buying food, and receiving parcels,” Sergey Ivaschenko explained.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.