BLAGOVESHCHENSK, March 7 - RAPSI. A Far Eastern court placed former deputy prison governor on probation for beating up female prisoners, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

Investigators initiated a criminal case against Sergei Zychkov after several videos showing a man dressed in the warden’s uniform beating female prisoners were published in a social network.

Zychkov occasionally beat three women from May to July 2009. He was arrested in October 2011. The prison governor resigned from his position following the incident.

The prison officer admitted his guilt and requested the court to hear his case under a simplified procedure. The court convicted him of abuse of office and placed him on the forty months probation. He was also prohibited to take public offices for 18 months.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s office claimed 4.5 years in prison for the defendant, while the crime is punishable by up to ten years in jail.