White Swan (prison)

Coordinates: 59°40′52″N 56°42′25″E / 59.681°N 56.707°E / 59.681; 56.707 White Swan (Russian: Белый лебедь; also known as VK-240/2 Russian: ВК-240/2) is the informal name for an infamous colony of special regime in Solikamsk, Perm Krai, Russia. It is a maximum-security prison for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment. The official name for the prison is Russian: ФКУ ИК-2 ОИК-2 ОУХД ГУФСИН России по Пермскому краю[1][2]

The history of the penal colony begins in 1938. Initially it held only political prisoners, mostly priests, but later it has been used for common criminals as well.[1]

White Swan is connected to many legends, it held a number of criminal authorities (Thieves in law), serial killers, and terrorists.[1][2]

One of the most radical Chechen terrorist warlords Salman Raduyev spent his last days in this prison. He died there under mysterious circumstances. [3][4]

Also held here was Yury Shutov, a former deputy of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly and a former aide to Saint Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, the author of books "Sobchak's heart" (about Anatoly Sobchak)[5] and "The Godfather of Piterskyes" (about Vladimir Putin).[6] He was sentenced in February 2006 to life imprisonment for a number of murders, attempted murders, and kidnappings[7] Russian authors Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky insist that the charges against Shutov were fabricated.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ВК-240/2. "Белый Лебедь"". "The Union of Prisoners".
  2. 1 2 "ФКУ ИК-2 ОИК-2 ОУХД ГУФСИН России по Пермскому краю". Official Site Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in the Perm Krai.
  3. Chechen warlord dies in Russian jail.
  4. Chechen warlord dies in jail, BBC News, 15 December 2002
  5. Shutov, Yury (1991). Собчачье сердце, или Записки помощника ходившего во власть. Moscow: Eksmo. ISBN 5-9265-0172-5.
  6. Shutov, Yuri (2011). Крестный отец "питерских". Moscow: Algorithm. ISBN 978-5-4320-0022-4.
  7. "Юрий Титович Шутов".
  8. Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky The Age of Assassins. The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin, Gibson Square Books, London, 2008, ISBN 1-906142-07-6, pages 273-277.

External links

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