Investigative committee cannot confirm whether Ildar Dadin had been tortured

Russia's Investigative Committee has said that its pre-investigative inspections have not shown any evidence to confirm the claim of political prisoner Ildar Dadin, whose letter on systematic beatings and torture was published on Tuesday, that he had been tortured by prison officials at penal colony 7 in the town of Segezha.

The committee has said that it its investigative materials include Dadin's letter, medical documents from a judicial medical team, interviews with prison officials, and video footage.

After the publication of Dadin's letter, Russia's Investigative Committee, Federal Penitentiary Service, and Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova all launched an investigation.

Though the country's penitentiary service did confirm on Tuesday that Dadin had been tortured after "rudely refusing to get out of [his holding cell]" and "grabbing onto prison officials' uniforms", it later stated that medical examinations revealed no traces of beatings on Dadin's body.

Dadin was imprisoned for organizing one-man protests. In December 2015, he was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

On Tuesday, Meduza published a letter written by Ildar Dadin to his wife Anastasia Zotova. In the letter, Dadin reveals the torture that he is enduring at the hands of prison authorities at penal colony number 7 in the town of Segezha.