Russian authorities are investigating allegations of torture and rape in the prison system, after leaked videos appeared to show inmates being abused. More than a thousand videos were leaked to the human rights group Gulagu.net, which claims the footage proves hundreds of people have been tortured. One video appears to show a naked man being abused with a stick at a prison hospital in the city of Saratov. The BBC has not been able to independently verify the footage. Another video appears to show a man laying face-down with his hands taped behind him, as a guard presses a boot into his back. The films are part of a large trove of files provided by an anonymous Belarusian whistleblower who served time in the Saratov facility, Gulagu.net said. “If the authenticity of this material is confirmed, it would be grounds for a serious investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.(BBC)…[+]