500 Russian prisoners mutilate themselves as an action of protest

The majority of imprisoned protesters cut their wrists and necks

About 180 prisoners injured themselves in a prison situated in the Kursk region of Russia, protesting against the living conditions in the prison. The prisoners cut their veins on wrists, necks and legs. Some of them said that they could not live under unbearable conditions of the prison, the administration of which treats the convicted badly, to say the least, Interfax reports.

A special workgroup was urgently established to determine the reasons, which eventually caused the above-mentioned emergency in the prison. Investigators interrogated over 200 prisoners; five forensic experts were attracted to the process to examine the prisoners, who had inflicted injuries on themselves.

According to experts' conclusions, all the examined prisoners had slash subcutaneous wounds, which could be classified as trivial bodily injuries.

Investigators concluded that the prisoners meticulously planned their action of protest in advance: the convicted started cutting their veins in ten groups of the prison almost simultaneously. The inspection also revealed incidents of brutal treatment, including tortures, which prison employees used against the convicted.

It was later reported, however, that the number of prisoners, who participated in the action of self-mutilation, reaches about 500. The information has not been officially confirmed yet, Interfax reports. The majority of imprisoned protesters cut their wrists and necks, Interfax said.

The accident took place at night of June 27, in the penitentiary institution in the town of Lgov, the Kursk region of Russia.

One may say that self-mutilation has already become a common practice to express protests in Russian prisons. Prisoners went on hunger strike and tried to cut there wrists in April of 2005 in one of the prisons of the Irkursk region, in Russia's Siberia. A similar accident occurred in 2003 in Kazan, when prisoners protested against the toughening of internal routine rules. The rebels used pieces of broken glass and razors to cut their wrists. Eight people were hospitalized as a result of the protest.