The former deputy head of a labor colony in the central Russian city Yekaterinburg has been sentenced to six and a half years behind bars for torturing inmates.
The case against Mikhail Belousov was opened in February last year after the local news site 66.ru published a video of prisoners being tortured, the opposition-leaning Dozhd TV network reported Monday.
In an online statement, the Sverdlovsk region Investigative Committee said Belousov and five former inmates were convicted of physical and mental mistreatment as well as sexual violence.
Belousov is barred from holding public office for three years and has been stripped of his rank as a lieutenant colonel.
The Investigative Committee said Belousov formed a group of prisoners loyal to the administration to beat other convicts in return for privileges.
The inmates videotaped the torture of their fellow prisoners to prove to him they had followed his orders, Dozhd reported.
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