Russian police ‘tortured two sisters who took part in Alexei Navalny protests’
Russian police ‘tortured two sisters who took part in Alexei Navalny protests’ with one ‘suffocated with a plastic bag to make her unlock her phone’
- Alyona Kitayeva, 21, claims she was ‘tortured’ by four male police officers, with one ‘holding a plastic bag over her head’ until she revealed her phone password
- Her younger sister Alexandra, 19, claims she was threatened and left in a ‘cage’
- The pair were among more than 1,400 protesters who were arrested during pro-Navalny protests
- Navalny is to serve two and a half years in prison for violating parole linked to a 2014 conviction
Russian police have been accused of torturing two young sisters who were detained during protests in support of jailed Vladimir Putin foe Alexei Navalny.
Alyona Kitayeva, 21, claims she was ‘tortured’ by four male police officers, with one trying to suffocate her by holding a plastic bag over her head.
She alleges the Russian officers ‘beat her and threatened to use a stun gun’ on her unless she revealed the password of her smartphone at Donskoye police station.
Her younger sister Alexandra, 19, claims she received threats and was left in a ‘cage’ for two hours while being taunted by officers who said they had ‘killed’ Alyona.
It comes as more than 1,400 protesters were arrested amid battles in the streets of Moscow after the Kremlin’s most prominent critic Navalny was jailed for two and a half years on Tuesday.
Russian police have been accused of torturing two young sisters, Alyona Kitayeva, 21, (left) and her younger sister Alexandra, 19, (right) who were detained during protests in support of jailed Vladimir Putin foe Alexei Navalny
It comes as more than 1,400 protesters were arrested amid battles in the streets of Moscow after the Kremlin’s most prominent critic Navalny was jailed for two and a half years on Tuesday
Pro-Navalny protesters clash with police during a demonstration on Sunday following the jailing of the anti-Kremlin critic
The pair are one of many Navalny protesters who have made chilling accusations of police ‘torture’ as well as ‘threats and abuse’ after being detained.
A number of female protesters have claimed they have been sexually humiliated and made to strip naked in police custody. They say officers forced them to show their underwear, perform naked sit-ups and undress in rooms with transparent glass.
Alyona and her sister Alexandra have identified a police ‘anti-extremism’ officer named Alexey Okopny who they allege was involved in their ‘illegal’ treatment.
Okopny has previously been the subject of claims of ‘persecution’ and ‘cruelty’ by Navalny supporters.
Alyona claims Okopny was the officer to have placed the plastic bag over her head, before she handed over her smartphone.
Alyona and her sister Alexandra have identified a police ‘anti-extremism’ officer named Alexey Okopny (pictured) who they allege was involved in their ‘illegal’ treatment
Alyona claims Okopny was the officer to have placed the plastic bag over her head, before she handed over her smartphone
‘They did not return the phone for a very long time,’ she said. ‘I told them my password, because they threatened me with a stun gun, put a bag over my head, started beating me.’
The police wanted her password to discover the identities of other opposition figures to whom she was connected on social media, it is believed.
Alyona, who works for Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer from Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, has now been jailed for 12 days.
She told The Insider: ‘The only man who was sitting next to me was taken out as soon as they started torturing me. They closed the door tightly.
‘When I started screaming, he (a policeman) mocked me, saying: ‘Oh, help, help!’
‘And then he says: ‘Look, you scratched me’ and runs his hand over his face, and he has a slight reddening there. He says: ‘I’ll say that you scratched me’.’
Alyona continued: ‘There were definitely no cameras in that office. Only four huge men.
‘One [of them] kicked me on the leg, then said: ‘Well, that’s it, now we will choke [you] with a bag’.
The police wanted their phone passwords to discover the identities of other opposition figures to whom she was connected on social media, it is believed
‘Okorny put it on my head, started to shake me a little,’ she said. ‘He didn’t exactly choke me, but shook my head. At the end he pushed so that I fell off the chair.’
Her sister Alexandra also recounted her alleged abuse. She said: ‘While I was waiting for my turn for interrogation, I started receiving threats.
‘I was forced into a room and forcibly fingerprinted. [A male officer] pressed me against the wall and squeezed my hand tightly to unclench my fist, I got bruises.’
Another officer joined in and they ‘twisted me, forcibly smeared paint on my palms and fingers, and made prints,’ the 19-year-old said.
‘Then I was taken to a cage, where I spent two hours alone,’ she added. ‘I asked the police officer where my sister was, and he answered me: “We killed her!” – and laughed.
‘Then he said: “She is dancing striptease for us”.’
Alexandra claims she faced more threats until she gave them her phone password.
The sisters allege they were warned not to use their right to silence of they would face more abuse.
Another person working for lawyer Sobol, Artem Tyurin, said the judge who had sentenced his colleague Alyona had brushed aside the torture claims.
Okopny who works for the so-called Centre E anti-extremism centre – a police unit in the Interior Ministry – has been repeatedly accused of brutality and threats by opposition forces since 2007
‘The judge ignored information about torture. This is inhumane,’ he said.
Okopny who works for the so-called Centre E anti-extremism centre – a police unit in the Interior Ministry – has been repeatedly accused of brutality and threats by opposition forces since 2007.
His alleged role in the latest detentions was highlighted by independent media in Russia.
Tyurin said: ‘Four people have already complained about torture and beatings at Donskoye police station.
‘The illegal actions of the police were directed by Okopny, report the victims of violence.’
Their alleged torture comes amid a crackdown by Russian officers against pro-Navalny supporters.
A Russian journalist was jailed for 25 days on Wednesday for sharing a joking social media post about the Navalny protests.
Journalist Sergei Smirnov (second left) during a hearing at a Moscow court on Wednesday where he was jailed for 25 days
Sergei Smirnov, the editor of independent outlet Mediazona, was found guilty of repeated violations of protest legislation, he said.
According to court documents, he was accused of organising an illegal protest on January 23 after retweeting a post that showed the time and date of the event.
Police detained him last week and Smirnov was jailed for 25 days by a Moscow court, he told his social media followers from inside the courtroom.
After Smirnov’s sentencing on Wednesday, the Russian Journalists and Media Workers Union demanded his release.
Protesters took to the streets again on Wednesday following the court decision to convert Navalny’s suspended sentence from a 2014 case into real prison time
The union described the court’s decision as ‘unlawful, absurd and shameful’.
Smirnov was sentenced a day after Navalny was told he would have to serve two years and eight months in jail in a separate case.
He was found guilty of flouting the terms of his suspended sentence for a 2014 fraud conviction, meaning the punishment was upgraded to real jail time.
But Navalny says the conviction was based on trumped-up charges and argued he could hardly have checked in with parole officers while recuperating in Germany from his nerve agent poisoning last year.
Smirnov was among those jailed over protests in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny (pictured), who was sent to prison for more than two and a half years on Tuesday
More than 1,400 people were arrested during the latest round of Navalny protests, mainly in Moscow, where police are seen detaining a supporter of the Putin critic on Tuesday
Thousands have responded to Navalny’s call for demonstrations since the Kremlin critic was arrested on his return to Russia last month.
Navalny’s jailing has sparked a fresh wave of condemnation from the West, including calls for further sanctions on Moscow.
But Russia dismissed the criticism and accused Western governments of interfering in its own internal affairs.
Russia has not accepted the finding that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and denies involvement in a plot to assassinate him.
Navalny claimed in December to have duped an FSB security service agent into confessing details of the plot against him.
