Arkady Gostev, head of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for creating a network of torture chambers in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast.
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Gostev was found guilty of orchestrating the transformation of captured Ukrainian prisons into torture sites used to detain and brutalize members of the local resistance.
Gostev personally oversaw the establishment of torture facilities and pushed for their inclusion in Russia's national prison registry through the Justice Ministry.
The court ruled he committed actions aimed at violently changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power.
Saldo claimed time is on Russia's side in the war
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Extraction metadata
Extracted: 2026-02-27T18:33:32.868Z
Source story: russias-prison-chief-sentenced-in-absentia-for-torture-chambers-in-kherson-oblast