Against a traffic police inspector from Tulun (Irkutsk region) Viktor Askhaev, who complained to the Prosecutor General’s Office about corruption on the part of his boss, was prosecuted under the article on “illegal collection of computer information,” ASTRA has learned.
The case was initiated after Viktor’s colleagues stopped a motorist without a license, who told them that he had “already resolved the issue” with their superiors. The protocol drawn up for him mysteriously disappeared from the database and the car was returned to him. After the inspectors tried to raise this issue, the head of the Tulunsky traffic police department, Ivan Kremensky (pictured), destroyed their report and records from the registrar. As a result, Viktor decided to make the check himself and asked one of the employees to check the motorist’s data in order to use it when drafting an application to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
After a formal check, Askhaev received threats for several months demanding that he stop writing complaints, and his colleagues warned him that Kremensky was allegedly personally encouraging his friend from the FSB, Ivanov (surname changed), and his supervisor to fabricate a criminal case against him in order to remove him from the service.
On April 13, 2026, when Askhaev was on duty in Tulun, an unmarked minibus approached him and his partner on the highway. People in masks, bulletproof vests and an FSB patch on their chests ran out. Among them was the aforementioned FSB operative, Lieutenant Ivanov. Viktor was detained and brought to the Tulunsky Investigative Committee building.
There, the man was taken to investigator Alina Zenkova (pictured), where employees of the regional FSB special forces unit began demanding a password from his phone and mocking him. After Askhaev’s head was hit against a cabinet and he almost fell, Zenkova demanded that he be taken out of her office because she was afraid for the safety of the furniture.
Askhaev was transferred to the next office. Ivanov punched him in the stomach and announced that he had done it because he had spoken unflatteringly about his friend, the head of the Tulunsky traffic police department, Kremensky, in telephone conversations. After that, Askhaev was beaten in the chest and in the face, he began to lose consciousness. The security forces poured water on him to wake him up.
Without receiving the phone password, two FSB officers pulled off Askhaev’s clothes and grabbed him by the legs, while the third began raping him with an adjustment rod. When asked if he remembered the password, the man was physically unable to answer anything, after which the torture continued. He fainted from the unbearable pain.
When Askhaev woke up, he saw that he was already in his clothes, and the ambulance staff were standing over him. They gave him a pill, gave him an injection, and gave him a waiver of hospitalization. One of the FSB officers asked them to leave them a syringe with medicine and ammonia to bring him back to his senses. They complied with the request and left.
As a result, the beaten Askhaev was forced to say on camera that he had no complaints against the FSB officers, sign all the procedural documents and give the phone password. After that, the man was sent to an IVS, where investigator Zenkova and lawyer Potemin convinced him to confess, otherwise he would be left in jail. Nikitin, the head of the Tulun Investigative Committee, also came there, threatening that another criminal case would be fabricated against him.
As a result, Askhaev was sent on his own recognizance.
According to an ASTRA source, Kremensky, the head of the Tulun traffic police, and Ivanov, an FSB operative, are friends and spend a lot of time together.
At the moment, according to ASTRA’s interlocutor in the law enforcement services, the military investigation department is investigating the use of torture against Askhaev by FSB officers. A pre-investigation check has also been launched against Zenkova. The criminal case against Askhaev himself has not been terminated. A prosecutor’s check on corruption in the department revealed nothing.
It is noteworthy that the doctors of the Tulun City Hospital did not record even half of Askhaev’s complaints, and the chief physician, Elena Gusevskaya, refused to extend his sick leave, citing administrative pressure.
