Not Only Dr. Evil: Medical Care behind Russian Bars

Recently, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has charged in absentia Ilya Sorokin, a former paramedic of the medical unit of Mordovian correctional colony No. 10. He is suspected of brutally torturing Ukrainian prisoners.

Almost all Ukrainian prisoners released from the Mordovian colony spoke about this paramedic, including those who received legal assistance from lawyers at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Shocks with a stun gun instead of treatment, humiliation, leaving the sick without minimal help — it’s not for nothing that the prisoners called him “Doctor Evil.”

“He says, “Hand!” You put out your hand, and he hits it with a stun gun and asks, “Is it better?” You have to answer, “Yes!” Otherwise, he will increase the power and hit it again. Then he calls the cell orderly, hits him in the hand with a stun gun, and warns that you can’t go to the doctor,” — recalled artilleryman A., who had to spend several months in Mordovia.

Radio Liberty journalists were the first to identify “Doctor Evil.” They found out that he was 34-year-old Ilya Sorokin, a father of two children. He has a certificate “For conscientious performance of public duties and active participation in the life of the collective.” He no longer works in the colony, and in 2024, he enlisted in the army.

“Based on the evidence collected, investigators of the Security Service in absentia informed Sorokin of a charge under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes, cruel treatment of prisoners of war). Since the perpetrator is on the territory of the Russian Federation, comprehensive measures are underway to find and punish him,” the SSU said.

However, the war crimes of Russian medical personnel are not limited to one person, “Doctor Evil.” Talking to Ukrainians who return from captivity as a result of exchanges, we heard many stories about how Russians “treat” prisoners of war.

First Medical Examinations and Medical Procedures

Doctors examine prisoners of war during the so-called “reception”, a brutal intake of new arrivals in each place of detention where they are placed. In many cases, medical personnel are present during the torture and beating of Ukrainian prisoners of war, but remain impassive. And some, such as Doctor Evil, participate in the massacres themselves.

For example, in Ryazhsk PDC No. 2 (Pre-trial Detention Center), during the “reception,” the doctors gave the guards special signs: who could be beaten, and who couldn’t stand it.

— We left the motorcade one by one, — says N. — They led us into a room, made us kneel, with our foreheads on the floor. After that, we were taken to another room. We undressed, and an examination was performed. Doctors were there. The doctors gave guards the “green light” on whether we could be beaten or not. I understood this because the doctors turned their heads towards the Rosgvardia (The Federal Service of Troops of National Guard of the Russian Federation — ed.) and nodded, as if they had been given a signal.

In the same Detention Center, according to another ex-prisoner, detainees were beaten during medical procedures.

— Once they did a cardiogram. They took urine and blood tests. While they took some tests, we were constantly beaten with batons and hands. When one of the cellmates was taken to the medical unit, the other inmates had to squat.

— This could last from half an hour or more, and we were also forced to scream how many times we squatted. After the torture, there was no medical help. If you told them that you needed help, they beat you even more.

However, the ex-prisoners also remember “normal” doctors. In Mordovia, they say, in addition to Dr. Evil, there was a doctor who “did everything he could, at least somehow responded to the appeals and during the medical examination tried to demand that the prisoners not be beaten or mocked in his presence”. They also mention doctors in one of the colonies who even “scolded the special forces for beating and not telling the doctors that the prisoners needed some kind of help”.

Assistance from fellow soldiers

Judging by the stories, Ukrainian military doctors mostly have the opportunity to help their comrades in some way only in the initial stages of captivity, before being distributed to prison institutions on Russian territory. Here is what Z. said about the “reception” in Olenivka, in the occupied Donetsk region:

— In the crowd, I started to lose consciousness after they beat me… I felt very sick and could not stand normally; I had to sit down or lie down. I sought medical help. One Ukrainian Army medic was allowed to provide me with medical care. He gave me painkillers… I asked him to wrap my ribs with an elastic bandage, because they were broken… After a while, I crouched down in the crowd and lost consciousness.

It seems that later, the captured doctors had no means or medicines to assist. However, there are known stories when, despite everything, Ukrainians saved each other, for example, they successfully performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. During the “reception” of the next batch of prisoners of war in the Tula detention center, the conditions were horrendous. After a brutal beating, the Ukrainians were forced to stand in the walking yards for the whole night, without food and practically without water. One of the Ukrainians became very sick.

— We stood there all night and were freezing. Instead of a ceiling in the walking yard, there were bars above us. Employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) walked on these bars, spat on us, and shook off the ashes. We could go to the toilet on command using a bucket. They did not give us food. They gave us water only once, but it was not enough for everyone. One soldier felt unwell, and he lost consciousness. We asked for help, but it was not provided. And one captured soldier performed a heart massage and saved this Ukrainian soldier, after which we were given some water.

Treatment on request

The administration of the colonies and detention centers mainly provides medical assistance “on request”. However, there are exceptions. For example, former prisoners said about the PDC-s in Kamyshyn and Bryansk, that local doctors themselves went around the cells every morning and asked about their health, and bandaged those who had open wounds. Still, the “interviews” did not always lead to anything, unless it was a serious illness.

— In Kamyshyn, for example, we said that we had a headache and asked for a pill, but they did not give us anything, because there were no pills, so we stopped asking for help anymore… I had a prisoner with diabetes in my cell, and they came and gave him an injection for diabetes.

Meanwhile, a prisoner of war who was in colony No. 7 in Pakino said that they started treating him only when he was almost dead.

— The food was terrible, I was very weak there and lost consciousness from hunger, I could not move, I just lay there. … I asked for help, and was told: “The sooner you die, the better it will be.” They gave me very little food; mostly, it was scraps. After I asked for help, only two weeks later, I was taken to a hospital in the Vladimir region. I stayed there for two weeks.

Often, a request for help ends in a beating. And here, the “champion of cruelty” is the Mordovian colony No. 10, with its famous “Doctor Evil”. In some colonies, medical care is provided, but it borders on humiliation of human dignity.

— The format of contacting a doctor was as follows: the one who needs medicine, stands at the door in a “Г— shape” [bend-over] and waits until he is called. Eyes closed, head lowered, you hold your hand with the palm up and wait for the pill. After you get it, you raise your head with your eyes closed, wash down the pill with water, and show that you have swallowed it all. And after that, you shout “Glory to Russian medicine!”

Tuberculosis

Many Ukrainians return from captivity suffering from tuberculosis. Poor nutrition, overcrowding, lack of minimal hygiene, fresh air, and walks, and generally terrible conditions of detention — all this contributes to a high level of infectious disease incidence. The institutions’ administrations try to keep it under control. From time to time, prisoners undergo fluorography, and patients receive some pills. But under such conditions in which the Russians keep prisoners, the spread of tuberculosis cannot be stopped.

Ex-prisoner E. has tuberculosis, and he still has to take medication. He told about how he was treated in Russia. He says he doesn’t know when he caught the infection, because he felt bad all the time from hunger. Once, after another fluorography, he was told that his lungs were affected.

— They gave us some pills after they discovered tuberculosis. They gave them regularly, but the number of pills depended on how responsibly the doctors treated their patients. One day, they could give six pills, and the next day, nine. We didn’t know what condition we were in. No additional tests were done, no blood or urine tests, no sputum tests, only pills. We were taken for fluorography once every 3-4 months.

Despite the diagnosis, the prisoner’s regime was not significantly relaxed. He was separated from his uninfected brothers, beaten less, and… allowed not to wash in the cold bath.

— In Mordovia, all tuberculosis patients were transferred from regular buildings to a separate building. This building contains punishment cells, single, double, and quadruple cells. In the isolation ward, we had a little more time to sit. We had “dead spots” in our cell where the video camera couldn’t see, then I tried to sit with my legs raised so that the lymph could drain a little. The guards allowed the patients not to go to the bathhouse, which was better than going there because the water was cold, and it was generally cold. In the fall and winter of 2024, I already had such a form of tuberculosis that I was coughing up blood. Therefore, it was better for me not to go to the cold bathhouse. After we were diagnosed with tuberculosis, the regimen and diet remained the same; they did not improve our food, they just started beating us less, mainly because the Russians were afraid of contracting tuberculosis, but the beatings continued anyway. We had walks about once every 3-4 months — and then only for two minutes in the fresh air. There was mold in the cell, the bars. It was impossible to remove the mold…

As the man recalls, in the summer of 2024, at least 60 prisoners in Mordovian correctional colony No. 10 were sick with tuberculosis.

Stroke

A., who was captured in Mariupol, went through several Russian places of captivity. In the Vladimir PDC, he had a stroke.

— We were constantly threatened that we would be beaten, and I was worried. As a result, I had a stroke, and I dragged my left arm and left leg because of the partial paralysis. The doctor provided me with medical care. But then they hit me on the right leg, and I fell and injured my shin, knee, and hip joint. After that, I couldn’t walk at all; I had to crawl to the toilet. The guys carried me on their backs all the time. The doctor gave me injections, painkillers, massages, and allowed me to lie down.

It happened in January. It was only in April that they decided to send the prisoner to the hospital, first to Tula, and then to Vladimir.

— I was taken to colony No. 3 in Vladimir, where they kept guys with tuberculosis. — he said. — I stayed in this colony for two months. They did all the tests on me, gave me a “Hemoglobin” pill, and… nothing more. It didn’t help me… I couldn’t walk.

Later, the man, like many of his fellow prisoners, ended up in Mordovia. He was helped to go through the terrible “reception” procedures by another prisoner of war, who carried him everywhere. The man says that at first he was not beaten, although the others had a hard time. But later, all the newcomers were taken one by one to the office where the FSB officers were sitting.

— Five or six FSB officers were sitting in one office, they could beat prisoners during the interrogation, — recalls A. — I was not beaten, because I did not walk… But they hit me several times with an electric shocker on the body. Our other prisoners were beaten very severely with batons and plastic sticks, so they crawled out of those offices.

In Mordovia, a man who could not walk received medical care. Minimal.

— I was given one or two painkiller pills a week. They also gave me diuretics, and they gave me injections, because we all had swollen feet, I couldn’t see my toes and heels…

Festering legs

Due to the terrible beatings and constant torture, the wounds and abrasions on the prisoners’ bodies simply don’t have time to heal. In addition, in many Russian places of captivity, prisoners are forced to stand still for hours. All this leads to problems with blood circulation in the limbs, swelling, and ulcers.

— We were told that we had to stand constantly. We couldn’t lean on each other, we couldn’t sit down, we couldn’t move. We could only go to the toilet and drink water with permission. If we moved without permission, we were taken out into the corridor and beaten. We had to stand from six a.m. until ten p.m. And I stood like that every day from February 10, 2023, to October 23, 2024. As a result of standing, I have problems with my legs, and I was given the third group of disability for life.

Almost all the former prisoners of war we interviewed talk about “rotten legs”. At the same time, prison doctors paid little or no attention to such “trifles”; at most, they gave prisoners cotton wool soaked in alcohol, or a bandage and furacilin for disinfection. Something more effective could be obtained only when the problem with the legs became extremely serious.

— My calves were the size of a head. I went to the doctor, and somewhere on the fifth attempt, the doctor gave me some pills… I don’t know what kind of pills they were, but after them, at least at night, the swelling on my legs began to go down gradually.

— In July 2023, I had an atrophic ulcer and my leg began to rot from standing, — says another released prisoner of war. — I sought help three times, and the doctor came to me only when my temperature rose. They did not ease my regimen; I continued to stand all day. But they started giving me pills, and my leg began to heal. In April 2024, my left leg began to rot; it doubled in size, and I had a high fever, so I was put on bed rest for a week, given one injection a day, 4-5 pills a day, and a week later, my leg healed. Since July 2024, I have had bloody wounds on my legs, my nails have been falling off, and before the exchange, I asked for cotton wool with alcohol for disinfection. After the exchange, the wound on my right leg has not healed yet.

In some cases, when the condition of the limbs was such that it was a threat to life, the patients were taken to the hospital.

Hospital

D. had his leg badly injured during the very first interrogation in captivity. The pain in the limb bothered him for months, until in Mordovia, his leg below the knee began to turn black, and his temperature rose.

— I asked for medical help, and they gave me some medicine. Three days later, I lost consciousness from the pain at night. It was about 5 am. Because the guys in the cell noticed I was feeling unwell, they started knocking on the door and calling the on-duty doctor. I had already come to my senses when the doctor gave me an injection. They carried me out into the corridor, put me on a stretcher, and took me to the hospital.

Staying in the prison hospital did not save the prisoners from abuse, psychological and physical.

— There was one shift of guards in the hospital who constantly beat patients. For example, they called me to the “feeder”, I bent down, and they hit me on the head with keys… When they entered the cell, we had to put a bag over our heads and sit on the bed. Once, he told me to sit down and started kicking me in the head. He smashed my head, and I said that my eyes were bleeding. He lifted the bag and saw that my head was cracked and blood was flowing. After that, he put a bandage on my head and warned: God forbid you tell anyone, there will be more beating.

---

According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners, almost all Ukrainians who return from Russian captivity need treatment and rehabilitation. By creating such inhumane conditions for prisoners, the Russian Federation violates International Humanitarian Law, in particular almost all articles of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.