Migrants slash their wrists in protest at Moscow detention center

The management of a center for temporary detention of foreigners in Moscow has been fired after a group of migrants tried to slash their wrists, reports Olga Kirillova, the head of the Russian Federal Migration Service.

15 employees have been let go, including the heads of the detention center.

A group of foreign nationals, including citizens of Uzbekistan, who were awaiting deportation at the center slashed their wrists in February in an act of protest against terrible conditions.

“Those who tried to slash their wrists were people with a criminal record. People who act as if they are in prison - they don’t want to follow basic demands, they bring in prohibited items,” said Kirillova, alluding to the fact that the people detained must have had past prison experiences, where they learned the practice of protesting through collective self-harm.

After the incident, representatives from the embassy of Uzbekistan and human rights advocates visited the center.

“The center was inspected. We fired the entire management of the center. 15 people have been dismissed in total,” said the head of the Russian Federal Migration Service Olga Kirillova.

Over the course of the last ten years, Russia has faced a large number of immigrants looking to find work in big cities, many of them from former Soviet countries.

The center for temporary detention of foreigners was opened in former military base in a rural area in the southwest of Moscow in December 2014. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin attended the opening.

Before the center was opened, foreigners awaiting deportation were detained in another temporary center in Moscow, which has since been closed.

The Federal Migration Service of Moscow is responsible for administering the center. On February 25, the Federal Migration Service of Moscow announced on its website that they were hiring employees for work in the center. According to the announcement, there are 21 openings for “hall duty.”