Russian prison officer detained after inmate’s death

MOSCOW: Russian investigators on Tuesday said they had detained a prison officer for allegedly suffocating an inmate with a cloth.

The Investigative Committee’s branch in the western Bryansk region said they had detained an assistant duty officer for tying a cloth around a prisoner’s face "as a result of which he died of asphyxiation."

The officer faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty. The case comes a day after Russia detained six prison guards shown torturing an inmate in a shocking video leaked to a liberal newspaper.

The video was shot by one of the guards in a prison in the Volga city of Yaroslavl on a portable video recorder. It shows the faces of prison officers as they methodically beat a prisoner lying face down on a table.

It was published by Novaya Gazeta newspaper on Friday after being passed to it by a rights group, prompting an uproar. The tortured prisoner’s lawyer said Monday she had fled Russia after learning of personal threats against her from prison guards.