Rehabilitation center staff in Pyatigorsk sent to prison for torturing patients

A court in Pyatigorsk convicted the director of a local rehabilitation center, as well as two employees and a patient. All were involved in the torture of rehab patients.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in October, the Sovietsky District Court of Makhachkala remanded in custody four employees of the commercial rehabilitation center "Vozrozhdenie" accused of kidnapping, torture, and illegal imprisonment resulting in the victim's death.

The director, two consultants, and a patient at a rehabilitation center in Pyatigorsk have been found guilty of torturing people and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2 to 3.5 years.

"The convicted individuals systematically inflicted bodily harm on patients, restricted their movements with various restraints, locked them in rooms, and committed other acts aimed at causing physical and mental suffering," according to a statement on the Stavropol Krai Prosecutor's Office Telegram channel.

The press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Stavropol Krai clarified that the defendants will serve their sentences in a general regime penal colony. They were found guilty of torture committed by a group of individuals acting in concert. The defendants acted on the orders of the rehab director from August 2022 to April 2024, according to the department's Telegram channel.

It should be noted that nine people were recognized as victims, according to the Stavropol Krai Anti-Drug Commission in October 2024.

One of the rehabilitation center's patients, 29-year-old Artem Khomenko, died in the spring of 2024. The clients reported being forced to spend several hours in icy water, handcuffed, and beaten. Some, like Artem Khomenko, were immobilized by being wrapped in a carpet and taped shut. After several days or weeks in this position, bedsores developed on their bodies, Bloknot-Stavropol previously reported.

"They didn't even bring water (to Khomenko). His nose was bloody. Artem screamed that he couldn't breathe. Then they gagged him. Ten minutes passed, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he started to turn yellow," Newstracker previously quoted another patient at the center.

The regional Investigative Committee announced an investigation into the death. "According to preliminary data, death was caused by heart failure; the exact cause will be determined further," the department reported on its Telegram channel on May 3, 2024.

As a reminder, in early September, the case of an employee of a rehabilitation center in Kaspiysk, also accused of illegal deprivation of liberty and the death of a patient, was referred to court. According to investigators, the rehab employee, realizing the patient needed medical attention, did not call an ambulance, but instead tied him up and beat him. The man died from his injuries.