Two suspects in an investigation into a deadly St. Petersburg metro attack say they were held and tortured in a “secret prison” run by the Federal Security Service, the Republic news outlet reports.
Brothers Abror and Akram Azimov from Kyrgyzstan have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, accusing the FSB of holding them in a basement outside Moscow for two weeks, the report said.
Abror Azimov has said men who claimed to be retired FSB officers subjected him to electric shocks and fake drowning.
The brothers are suspected of helping organize a deadly bomb attack on the St. Petersburg metro in April, which claimed 15 lives. The bomber, 22-year-old Kyrgyz native Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, was also killed in the blast.
Republic said the “secret prison” could be located south-west of Moscow. It cited two unidentified sources close to the investigation as confirming the existence of the prison.
The report’s author, journalist Ilya Rozhdestvensky, said he turned to Republic after his employer, the RBC news outlet, declined to publish it. He has announced his intention to resign over the incident.