nn

Warning: Graphic content

n

Horrific new footage appears to show inside Russiaxe2x80x99s xe2x80x9ctorture conveyor beltxe2x80x9d jails where itxe2x80x99s claimed inmates are raped and mutilated.

n

The new video was leaked to campaigners and allegedly shows prisoners being terrorized and subject to degrading treatment in Vladimir Putinxe2x80x99s jails.

n

The videos show at least five inmates being urinated on, raped and violated with blunt objects.

n

They are the latest in a series taken by a Belarussian man jailed in Saratov and leaked to campaignersxc2xa0Gulagu.net.

n

According to the group, the abuse took place in OTB-1, a prison the Saratov region, close to the border with Kazakhstan.

n

Vladimir Osechkin,xc2xa0who runs the group, wrote on its website: xe2x80x9cWe continue our independent investigation against the conveyor belt of torture in the institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service.xe2x80x9d

nn

The group claims gangs of rapists were employed at the prison hospital to provide cover for them if their presence was questioned.

n

But itxe2x80x99s alleged their actual job was the routine sexual abuse of inmates as part of a xe2x80x9ccriminal conspiracyxe2x80x9d operating within the jail.

n

The rapes were filmed and the footage sent to the security services so it could be archived and then used as blackmail.

nn

It comes after the Gulaguxc2xa0revealed sickening videoxc2xa0showing a naked man screaming in pain as he is tied to a bed and violated with a mop handle at a tuberculosis hospital in the jail.

n

The video was taken by Sergei Savelyev, who was used by the authorities to collate their sickening collection of torture videos filmed on prison issue camcorders, says the group.

n

The IT programmer was xe2x80x9cbeaten and tortured himselfxe2x80x9d before he was deployed as a xe2x80x9cprofessionalxe2x80x9d to file the collection of abusive videos from several regions, it was claimed.

n

Savelyev xe2x80x93 now released and seeking political asylum in the West xe2x80x93 copied the material and carried it out of Russia.

n

Brutal treatment

nn

Osechkin says prisoners xe2x80x9cthemselves become part of the torture machinexe2x80x9d by snitching on other inmates or by signing false testimonies prepared by investigators.

n

The footage has reportedly led to the head of Russiaxe2x80x99s FSIN prison service quitting.

n

Tanya Lokshina, of Human Rights Watch, said her organization could not verify the videos but the footage xe2x80x9cgave grounds for strong concern.xe2x80x9d

n

xe2x80x9cThe problem of torture in Russian penitentiaries is very acute and the government is not doing enough to ensure effective investigation, security of victims and whistleblowers and accountability for perpetrators,xe2x80x9d she said.

nn

Russian prisons are notoriously brutal andxc2xa0reports surfaced earlier this yearxc2xa0detailing how prisoners were subject to electric shocks and had clamps attached to their penises.

n

A Putin-backed sadist dubbed The Maniac allegedly ran a prison in war-torn Ukrainexc2xa0which had dungeonsxc2xa0where victims were mutilated with surgical tools.

n