St. Petersburg doctor Mikhail Fetisov says he was beaten by a pretrial detention center officer

St. Petersburg doctor Mikhail Fetisov says he was beaten by a pretrial detention center officer

Neurologist Mikhail Fetisov reported being beaten in a pretrial detention center during a hearing at the Vyborgsky District Court of St. Petersburg, SOTAvision reports.

According to Fetisov, on September 1 a detention center employee named Nikolai beat him in his cell: he kneed him in the stomach and hit him on the head with his hands, twisted his arms behind his back, and used painful restraint techniques. Fetisov says that as a result he lost consciousness, and later developed bruises around his eyes and short-term memory loss.

Fetisov said that before the beating he had been speaking in his cell with the medical worker on duty because of severe anemia. According to him, his hemoglobin level was 74. The prosecutor said Fetisov’s statements required verification, and the court ordered the materials to be sent to the Investigative Committee.

Who is Mikhail Fetisov?

Mikhail Fetisov worked as a neurologist at a St. Petersburg hospital. After a severe case of COVID-19, because of which he spent a month on a ventilator, the doctor was assigned a third-degree disability status. In the summer of 2024, Fetisov’s home was searched, after which he resigned from the hospital because of his health, “Mediazona” wrote. For about a year he could not find work, and then got a job as a security guard at a kindergarten. On October 15, 2025, Fetisov was detained and sent to a pretrial detention center.

Fetisov’s case is connected to the publication of a video with instructions on how to surrender and to comments on VKontakte in which the doctor criticized the actions of Russian soldiers and wrote about the torture of a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

The man is being tried in a case over military “fakes” and calls for activity against state security. Fetisov does not admit guilt.

Mikhail Fetisov / Photo: SotaVision

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