Former deputy prosecutor of the Saratov region Pavel Melnik, who was fired after the publication of a video about torture in a Saratov prison hospital, has become head of the regional department of the Ministry of Justice. Information about this was published on the website of the department, attention was drawn to it by the Vzglyad-info publication. Melnik began his duties on February 2, before that the post of head of the Saratov Ministry of Justice was headed by Maxim Kolesnikov. Melnik left his position in the prosecutor’s office after a scandal over torture in the Saratov tuberculosis hospital of the Federal Penitentiary Service (OTB-1), two of his subordinates, Vyacheslav Dianov and Alexei Taradin, were fired along with him. 18 people were fired from the administration of the Federal Penitentiary Service.
The videos from OTB-1, which were published by Gulagu.net human rights activists in October and November 2021, showed violence and abuse of prisoners: they were urinated, beaten, tied to a bed and brutally raped, including with a mop handle or other household items.
After the videos were published, the Investigative Committee opened five criminal cases – on sexual violence (Article 132 of the Criminal Code) and abuse of power (Article 286 of the Criminal Code).
On October 23, 2021, the Ministry of Internal Affairs put the programmer Sergey Savelyev on the wanted list on charges of illegal access to computer information (part 2 articles 272 of the Criminal Code). In parallel with this, the founder was put on the wanted list Gulagu.net Vladimir Osechkin, who published the torture archive.