Seven employees of the Cahul Penitentiary No. 5 will stand trial for use of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The Cahul Military Prosecutor’s Office finished the investigation into this case and sent it to the Chisinau Military Court for examination, IPN has learned from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The defendants include the prison’s chief, the head of the supervision service, the head of the security service, two supervisors and two guardians. They are accused of torturing three prisoners of the penitentiary, two of whom were minors, in 2010 – 2012. The detainees were ill-treated on different pretexts, including the use of insults against them and perforating of the cell wall. The father of one of the tortured minors informed the prosecutors about the ill-treatment.

When the chief of the jail found out about the complained filed to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, he threatened the prisoners with physical abuse and demanded that they withdraw the complaint and change their earlier depositions. Later, the prosecutors ordered transferring the three detainees to other penitentiaries.

The penitentiary’s employees face up to ten years in jail and ban on holding particular posts and performing particular activities for a period of up to five years.