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Spate Of Suspect Deaths Casts Spotlight On Moscow’s Remand Prisons

Radio Free Europe

Andrei Kudoyarov, director of Moscow school No. 1308 who was accused of accepting 240,000 rubles in bribes, died of a massive heart attack in a Moscow pretrial detention jail (SIZO) on October 8. His relatives and lawyers heard the news from media reports. Official confirmation came only on October 10.

The Kudoyarov case has once again cast a harsh light on Moscow pretrial detention centers, known as SIZO’s or “investigative isolation wards” in Russian, where, according to the Moscow Helsinki Group, some 50-60 people die in custody each year.

Suspects often spend months or even years in brutal conditions among sick and violent prisoners while awaiting their day in court.

Moscow human rights advocate Aleksandr Brod believes the Kudoyarov case points to a massive problem in the Russian legal system.