Humanitarian — 2026-07-11

Former Ukrainian POWs describe torture by Russian prison doctor at Colony No. 7

BLUFOpen-source identification and in absentia charges against a named Russian prison doctor build a prosecutorial archive for future tribunals but carry zero enforcement weight while Moscow controls custody.

A joint investigation by Schemes (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) and OCCRP, drawing on interviews with roughly 50 former Ukrainian prisoners held at Correctional Colony No. 7 in Pakino, Vladimir region, identified prison doctor Vyacheslav Cherdantsev, 48, as the man former captives called "Doctor Death" and "Konoval" 12. Former prisoners including Ihor Shyshko, Dmytro Khyliuk, and David Pradchenko told reporters he withheld medical treatment, forced prolonged nudity, coerced simulated sexual acts and unwarranted genital inspections, painted prisoners' bodies and faces with antiseptic dye as sexual humiliation, ordered bastinado-style beatings on the soles of the feet that left men unable to walk, and had scabies-infected prisoners deliberately mixed into healthy cells to spread the outbreak 123. Pradchenko said cellmate Pavlo Polovyi, denied treatment for a stress-induced rash, hanged himself in May 2023 12. Reporters matched decade-old and recent photographs of Cherdantsev to descriptions from nearly 50 prisoners and cross-referenced a leaked roster of about 1,150 Federal Penitentiary Service medical staff to narrow the identification 1. On July 10, Ukrainian authorities notified Cherdantsev in absentia that he is suspected of torture and other war-crimes violations, alongside two other prison employees and a Russian inmate, after prosecutors said they had by May 20 documented torture cases involving 259 POWs and three civilians who passed through the colony 12.

Analysis
A joint RFE/RL Schemes-OCCRP investigation, resting on a single primary probe with only secondary amplification from OCCRP and The Insider, identifies the accountability trail through an in absentia charge that Russia's opaque Federal Penitentiary Service has historically shielded from scrutiny. Enforcement hinges on custody Ukraine cannot compel absent a prisoner exchange or a shift in Moscow's extradition posture, so documentation functions as evidence-banking for a future tribunal rather than near-term enforcement. The methodology, cross-referencing a leaked personnel roster against survivor testimony, mirrors Schemes' earlier Mordovia identification and offers a repeatable model across the roughly 7,000 Ukrainians Russia still holds. The identification itself rests on photographic recognition and testimonial convergence rather than forensic or judicial confirmation, leaving open the possibility of mistaken identity despite the volume of corroborating accounts.

3 sources