White Swan (prison)

Coordinates: 59°40′52″N 56°42′25″E / 59.681°N 56.707°E 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 separatist 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 Major 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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "ВК-240/2. "Белый Лебедь"". "The Union of Prisoners".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBrHJ0kXOc

External links