Kindergarten under criminal investigation for 'torturing children with pins'. Picture: Kansk. 5 kanal

Teachers told children the stationary pins - as shown in the picture - their 'helpers' coloured red, white, yellow and blue.

Children at the Kansk kindergarten told their parents that the red pin was the 'scariest', the white was the least painful, and revealed they were spiked on the bottom and tongue.

Criminal investigators and prosecutors are now examining the allegations that teachers used the pins to punish the five year olds after after being alerted by parents.

The warped 'torture' is believed to have been carried out by two teachers, named as Nadezhda Maksukova and Anna Safonova, who have now left the Kindgarten Number 5 in Kansk, in Krasnoyarsk region.

It is not clear if other teachers are also suspected.



'She was scared to tell me because she thought I would be angry'. Pictures: Kansk 5 kanal

Elvira Dolgova, mother of five year old Lisa, said: ''When I can't stop crying. I asked my daughter about these 'helpers', she admitted teachers started to use them a long time ago.

'She was scared to tell me because she thought I would be angry with her for misbehaving.

''They bite us when we are unruly,' my daughter said.

'When I asked where the 'helpers' bite, she said on her tongue and bottom.'

The distraught mother said: 'I cried my eyes out. I looked at my daughter, imagining what she had to go through, my heart ached.

'When teachers told me she misbehaved, I spoke strongly to Liza - if only I knew.



'She needed my protection, and I was scolding her'. Pictures: The Siberian Times

'She needed my protection, and I was scolding her. I feel sick with myself.'

Some parents had noticed the telltale marks but believed them to be minor allergic reactions.

Yelena Lapteva, another mother, said 'I learned about it when I came to play with my daughter.

'She was prickling a doll with a stationary pin.

'I said it must have been really hurting for the doll, but she answered that it was fine as teachers in kindergarten did the same.

'I felt shaken from realising how much I didn't know about my daughter's time in kindergarten.'

Olesya Konisheva, who also has a child at the kindergarten, said: 'I didn't believe other parents until I inspected my daughter's body and found tiny scars.

'I was hysterical.'

At first the teachers denied the allegations when they were confronted by parents.



20 parents signed a petition to the local prosecutor's office demanding answers. Pictures: The Siberian Times

'How could you believe that such awful things happen in our kindergarten?' said one teacher. 'Children like making things up.'

But 20 parents signed a petition to the local prosecutor's office demanding answers.

Yelena Makeyeva, head of the kindergarten, admitted: 'A prosecutor and investigators are in front of me now.

'They are talking to teachers and parents.

'Both the teachers that worked with that group of children are dismissed for the time of investigation.

'They said they wanted to leave their jobs, and I accepted their notices.'

Deputy prosecutor Vladimir Plotnikov said: 'The Interior Ministry, prosecutors and the Investigative Committee are working on the case.'

Mother Olesya Konischeva said her son had 17 wounds.

'Nadezhda, the main teacher, seemed to be a quiet and wise teacher, and the children obeyed her,' she said.

'Now I know that they were simply terrified.

'We, parents, did not distinguish love from fear. The second one, Anna, she was hysterical.

'She could shout at the children. Parents often asked her not to do it, there were conflicts.'