A convict whose violent beating by prison officers was captured through video and resulted in mass outcry over prison torture in Russia has succumbed to double pneumonia, his mother stated on Monday.
Video of Yevgeny Makarov’s torture northeast of Moscow was leaked back in 2018, sparking series of probe across Russian correctional facilities and government promise to crack down on prison torture.
According to Makarov’s mother, “Makarov was 29-years-old when he took his last breath battling double pneumonia in a hospital bed.”
Around three hospitals were unable to provide proper medical aid for blood clots that had formed in his vessels due to violent beatings in prison.
Eleven former guards were convicted on charges of abuse of power and jailed for up to four years, while senior prison officials escaped prosecution.
A series of prison torture leaks has followed Makarov’s explosive video in the years since.
Torture & sexual violence inflicted on inmates have long been systemic in Russia’s vast penitentiary system, prison monitors say, but the videos have cast new light on such abuses.