Jailed Russian human rights lawyer accuses Russian authorities of denying her medical care

Jailed Russian human rights lawyer Maria Bontsler says she has been repeatedly denied medical care while awaiting her trial in a detention centre, as a court in the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad considers her complaint against the Russian penitentiary service.

Bontsler said during a court hearing on Monday that she had not received proper medical treatment despite suffering serious bruising after falling on a staircase while in custody.

Held since May, Bontsler is one of the few lawyers in Kaliningrad who has defended political prisoners and those charged with “discrediting” the Russian military since the beginning of the war. She faces charges of “confidential cooperation with a foreign state”, punishable by three to eight years in prison.

Bontsler, 65, said she was no longer able to take walks in the prison yard after she suffered a fall on the staircase leading to her punishment cell on the fifth floor.

Bontsler also said that although she suffers from chronic illnesses, her diagnosis had not been formally confirmed by prison doctors. “They haven’t even measured my blood pressure,” she told the court.

In July, Bontsler was hospitalised and later diagnosed with multiple gastrointestinal problems and duodenal ulcers. Her lawyers accused the hospital guards of handcuffing Bontsler to her bed around the clock, causing her significant pain and leaving her unable to sleep.

Bontsler said that she currently gets all her vital prescriptions from her son, but that such deliveries can only be made on certain days and requires a permit, which she said disrupts her treatment.

Bontsler’s legal complaint against the Federal Penitentiary Service includes other allegations about the conditions at the detention centre where she is being held, including a claim that the prison guards deliberately left her in the yard during heavy rain.

The next hearing on Bontsler’s complaint is scheduled for 21 January.