The 'New People' political party has refused to verify reports of military personnel from Yakutia being tortured in pre-trial detention. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the head of the 'Yabloko' party in Yakutia who demanded an investigation, shared this information with '7x7' on June 6.
Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the head of the 'Yabloko' party in Yakutia, informed '7x7' that deputies from the 'New People' party are unwilling to conduct an examination of the video showing torture of military personnel. He initially addressed Deputy Alexander Ivanov, who then passed the message on to his colleagues in the faction. Eventually, Nogovitsyn’s request was declined.
Nogovitsyn’s letter to the military prosecutor’s office was ignored. On May 29, a pro-governmental channel from Yakutia posted a message on behalf of the leadership of the Eastern Military District. The post contained information about 28 military personnel being detained at an assembly point in Yakutia with criminal cases initiated against them, but it denied torture. This information was not confirmed by official sources from the Ministry of Defense and the Yakutia government, either.
The video, which raised suspicions of torture, emerged online in late May. It features seven men – one of them unconscious – in a small room with the song 'I Am Russian' by SHAMAN playing loudly. Local media identified them as wounded military personnel who refused to go to the frontlines and were subjected to torture.
