Details of the death in the punishment cell of a pre-trial detention center of a person involved in a case of embezzlement at the Ministry of Defense have been revealed

Igor Kotelnikov died on Monday

Some details of the death in the capital's pre-trial detention center No. 4 («Bear») of Igor Kotelnikov, a businessman accused of giving bribes to senior officials of the Ministry of Defense, have become clear. According to investigators, Kotelnikov was an intermediary who, in exchange for kickbacks, guaranteed lucrative contracts to entrepreneurs collaborating with the military department.

Photo: Gennady Cherkasov

As MK learned, Kotelnikov died on Monday. At about 11 o'clock he became ill in the punishment cell located in building No. 5. It was not possible to save him — the 52-year-old man died, his heart stopped.

According to our information, it is in the fifth building of pre-trial detention center No. 4 that he is being held maximum number of punishment cells (more than in any other detention center in Moscow).  There is a corridor that opens onto more than 30 punishment cells. Human rights activists, while inspecting pre-trial detention centers, have repeatedly noted that these cells are crowded with people. They themselves are very small, it is hot there in warm weather, and cold in winter. Moreover, some prisoners sit there non-stop: first, for one or another offense, the accused is given the maximum period of stay in the punishment cell (15 days), then they are placed in quarantine for a short time and again sent to the punishment cell. Some prisoners spent more than one month there. 

People have already died in these punishment cells; several people committed suicide because they could not stand the conditions of detention. Often, in desperation, prisoners knock on doors and scream, starting mini-riots.