OREANDA-NEWS A criminal case has been sent to the Supreme Court of Bashkiria against 11 people accused of kidnapping and illegal imprisonment under the guise of treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of the republic reported on Thursday, January 27.

The investigation found that in 2014 one of the accused registered the Most (can be translated as «Bridge») rehabilitation center in the Sterlitamak district for the treatment of people suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction and gambling addiction. According to the investigation, in order to forcibly detain patients and profit from their relatives, he organized a criminal group, which included ten people.

«In the period from April 2019 to August 2020, the accomplices forcibly, including under the guise of law enforcement officers, tricked 17 victims into a rehabilitation center, depriving them of their freedom. Physical and moral-psychological influence was systematically applied to citizens by depriving them of sleep and food, humiliating the individual», the report says.

Patients were forbidden to meet and call relatives, as well as to leave the building without permission. It is noted that the illegal activities of the organiztion were stopped in November 2020, the abducted people were released. Earlier it was reported that the cost of the so-called rehabilitation in the center ranged from 25 to 35 thousand rubles (from 316 to 443 dollars) per month. There were metal bars on the windows of the rented house in which the rehabilitation center was located, the yard was fenced with a high fence, the gate and the doors were locked. For violating the established rules, guests were locked in a separate room or tied to a bed. Medical procedures were not carried out at the center, as the staff did not have knowledge in the field of alcohol and drug addiction treatment.