Probe Launched After up to 600 Inmates Riot at Max Security Prison in Vladikavkaz, Russia

14:46 GMT, 16 October 2021

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Svetlana Ekimenko

On 15 October, the Investigative Committee for North Ossetia reported that a riot had broken out in a correctional colony in Vladikavkaz – it was provoked by two convicts hold up in punishment cells.

Sputnik

Officers from Rosgvardiya (Russia's National Guard) and the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) have suppressed a riot at "No. 1" maximum security penal colony in Vladikavkaz, the capital of the Russian republic of North Ossetia.

According to the Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for North Ossetia, cited by Russian and regional media, a probe has been launched. According to various sources, around 200-600 convicts took part in "mass riots accompanied by pogroms and the destruction of property."

Prison

On Friday, FSIN was cited by several media outlets saying that the riot started after two inmates refused to obey "planned search activities" and "provoked other prisoners."

After arriving on the scene, special forces officers reportedly restored order. No one was seriously hurt during the melee, said Tamerlan Tsgoev, ombudsman for human rights in North Ossetia, in an interview with the Ossetia-Iriston TV channel. According to inmates cited by Telegram channel Mash Gor, three convicts sustained injuries.