Prosecutors took the unusual step of releasing photos of the victim
online, showing him sitting on a mattress with a chain attaching his
leg to a tree.
Neighbours alerted police after hearing the 70-year-old man’s cries for help. He was allegedly chained for five days.
The couple are being accused of false imprisonment and are said to have fled.
In order to stop the old man from wandering into the street, they
had kept him chained up from 28 July to 1 August, investigators were
quoted as saying.
According to the Russian news website, Life News, the victim, who
lived in the village of Gluboky, can barely see or hear, and is in very
poor health.
In an interview given from his hospital bed, he said he had been
beaten and doused with cold water to stop him calling out. As a result,
he contracted pneumonia.
The emaciated old man, named only as Mikhail B, told Life News he
had longed to die as a result of the alleged abuse: “They beat me with
a bottle of water, which is why I have a haematoma on my head.
“They took away my pension. When I wanted to eat, they threw
ice-cold water on me. Then they chained me and stopped feeding me
altogether.”
Doctors told Life News they hoped to place the victim in a rehabilitation centre in a nearby village.
No comment was reported from his 40-year-old daughter and
48-year-old son-in-law, who are said to have gone into hiding, fearing
the anger of their fellow villagers.
“We were just shocked when we heard they had tethered Old Misha,” said a neighbour, Natalya Demina.
