"They didn't allow us to eat and used physical force": An illegal rehabilitation center for teenagers was discovered in the Sverdlovsk region.

In a three-story cottage in the village Source 22 children were kept from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, Tomsk, Kirovskaya и Sverdlovsk areas, security officials report. All children and teenagers are between 10 and 18 years old. A criminal case has been opened under the article on illegal deprivation of liberty of minors.

Photographs published by investigators show rooms with bunk beds and stuffed animals. According to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs press service, Sverdlovsk region Valeria GorelykhThe children were brought there by their legal guardians. However, what exactly was done in the cottage and what services were provided is unknown. 

One of the teenagers told Kommersant-Ural that they were treated by counselors, and there was "Vitaly Sergeyevich, who beat them and starved them." Another girl said that "everything was wonderful," but some were not allowed to eat. 

“The owner of this house lives nearby, on the next street, he said that they provide psychological help to children here, — says a resident of Istok. "I never heard anyone shouting there. In the summer, I heard children laughing, and I could hear them being called to dinner <…>. But they didn't go for a walk in the street."

An investigation began yesterday at a rehabilitation center for adolescents in Dedovsk, near Moscow. Doctors found abrasions and bruises on the body, limbs, and head of a 16-year-old boy admitted there, along with evidence of ligatures on his wrists and feet. The boy suffered kidney failure, developed sepsis, and was placed in a medically induced coma. Criminal charges have been opened.

The administrator of Dedovsky rehab has been arrested. Vitaly BalabrikovThis name was also given to the children held under YekaterinburgThe organizer and owner of the rehab network, which includes the Dedovsky center, is a Rostov psychologist-therapist, lawyer, and activist. Anna KhobotovaJournalists speculate that the same network may include a rehabilitation center in Istok.