25 November 2016

Source: HRO.org

Defence lawyer Natalya Vasilkova has contacted the administration of the Karelian general regime prison colony No. 7 in Segezha with a request to ensure a full medical examination of political prisoner Ildar Dadin.

The lawyer emphasises that Dadin’s health has seriously deteriorated. She explained that it is essential to establish the nature of Dadin’s post-traumatic and post-heart-attack condition, to take blood samples, carry out magnetic-resonance imaging , do an encephalogram and cardiogram and conduct an ultrasound velocity imaging of the heart chambers and organs of the abdominal cavity.

The lawyer also is seeking to allow a medical commission access to Ildar Dadin including a therapist, a neurologist and a cardiologist in order to reach a decision about the health of the political prisoner and give a recommendation regarding in- or out-patient treatment.

The press secretary of the Karelian Region Prison Board, Mr Fedelov, said that the prisoner Ildar Dadin has been punished for getting into a fight with a cellmate.

Citing the Regional Prison Board, TASS reported that Ildar Dadin and a second person involved in the conflict were transferred to solitary cells. Citing the lawyer Vasilkova, the wife of the political prisoner, Anastasia Zotova, wrote that Dadin is now in solitary confinement.

The website Grani.ru reports that the Regional Prison Board did not exactly explain for how long Dadin would be kept in solitary. In accordance with Article 115 (point “G”, section 1) of the Prison Code (disciplinary measures applicable to the convicted) the maximum time for solitary confinement is six months. Meanwhile the minimum time of stay in solitary is not mentioned in the Code.

On 19th November the European Court of Human Rights communicated Dadin’s complaint about torture in the prison colony. The ECtHR posed questions to Russia: whether there was a violation of rights regarding protection from torture (Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights) in the period from 1st September till 18th November; whether Dadin was the object of cruel and inappropriate treatment during this time; and whether Dadin had access to effective legal defence. The Court in Strasbourg awaits an answer by 16th December.

Ildar Dadin was sentenced on 7th December 2015 to three years’ imprisonment by a Moscow court for repeated participation in anti-government protests. He was the first person to be sentenced to a term in prison under the repressive law of 2014, which provides for criminal liability for repeated violation of public assembly laws.

The world’s largest human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has recognised Ildar Dadin as a prisoner of conscience and has launched an international public campaign for his immediate release.

Memorial Human Rights Centre (Moscow) has recognized Ildar Dadin as a political prisoner (see: The Case of Ildar Dadin).

Translated by Frances Robson