Jailed anti-Putin activist says he is being tortured in prison

A Russian opposition activist who became the first person to be jailed for repeatedly staging peaceful anti-Kremlin protests under a new law says he is being tortured in prison and fears for his life. A Moscow court sentenced Ildar Dadin to three years in prison in December for holding a series of one-man protests in a case Amnesty International called "a cynical attack on freedom of expression." His jail term was later reduced to two and a half years on appeal. Russian rights activists regard Dadin, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and his policies, as a political prisoner. The authorities say Dadin broke a law, which was introduced after big anti-Kremlin protests, that criminalises anyone who violates protest rules more than twice in 180 days. In a letter to his wife from prison in north-west Russia published by online news portal Meduza on Tuesday, Dadin, 34, said he was being subject to group beatings where around 10 prison guards would kick him at the same time. He said he had also had been hung up like a piece of meat with his hands handcuffed behind his back, that he had been stripped and threatened with rape, and that the prison governor had warned him he...

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