A medic nicknamed Konoval, who tortured Ukrainian prisoners at a penal colony in Russia’s Vladimir Region, has been identified as Vyacheslav Cherdantsev, according to a report by Schemes (Skhemy), an investigative project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian Service. The project's journalists spoke with approximately 50 Ukrainians who returned from Russian captivity after being held at the IK-7 penal colony in the village of Pakino in the Vladimir Region, around 200 miles east of Moscow.
According to former prisoners, Cherdantsev regularly abused them, forced them to undress and imitate sexual acts, and made degrading comments about their genitals.
“We thought he was a pervert,” one former prisoner said.
Cherdantsev also denied prisoners medical care, which, among other things, led to an outbreak of scabies at the colony.
“We couldn’t sleep at night because of the scabies. You would ask him for ointment, and he would say he wanted us to suffer,” a former prisoner said.
Schemes found that Cherdantsev, 48, was born in Kyrgyzstan, where he formerly worked as a paramedic at a juvenile correctional colony. According to a report reviewed by Schemes, the medical office at that facility was often closed, basic medicines were unavailable, and teenagers suffered from advanced infectious and dermatological diseases.
Cherdantsev likely moved to Russia in 2013. He settled in the village of Pervomayskoye near Pakino, first working at an orphanage. In 2015, he began working at IK-7.
