Police officers in Orenburg allegedly threatened to rape a teenager who wouldn’t confess to stealing a mobile phone

Three police officers in Orenburg beat and threatened to rape an 18-year-old man if he refused to confess to stealing a mobile phone, according to the Committee Against Torture. The police arrested Gennady Shvetsov on October 4 and reportedly refused to let him telephone his family or a lawyer. Shvetsov says he got the supposedly stolen phone from a friend as collateral for an unpaid debt. The friend later told human rights activists that he testified against Shvetsov under police pressure.

In the evening, Shvetsov’s relatives finally learned of his arrest and collected him at the police station. He was then taken to a doctor who found cuts and bruises on his body.

In a video released on YouTube, Shvetsov’s father promised the officers who assaulted his son that they will face retribution under the law. In the footage, he also said that federal investigators and regional internal affairs detectives are already reviewing the case.

In Russia, there are regular reports of torture inside police stations and prisons. In 2018, Meduza documented more than 100 such incidents. Many of the victims in these assaults are minors, and the injuries sustained are sometimes fatal.