On eight squares

The accused in the “Khlebnikov case” complains that he is being kept in a torture chamber

The defense of one of the defendants in the case of the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov - Moscow notary Fail Sadretdinov - today intends to submit an appeal to the special rapporteur of the UN Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Other Inhuman Treatment. As his lawyers said yesterday, their client has already spent a whole week in a cell with conditions close to a punishment cell. Back in the fall of last year, Sadretdinov’s defense asked to provide him with treatment, since their client is a disabled person of the 2nd group. Instead, without explanation, the notary was moved to a cell with a temperature close to zero.

As it turned out, Sadretdinov was transferred to a new cell last Tuesday. And yesterday his lawyer Ruslan Koblev conveyed a statement from his client: “This is a punishment for a principled position in court. My defenders and I managed to get the biased judge replaced, and I was immediately punished.” (Last week, the trial in the “Khlebnikov case” that had begun was suspended due to the replacement of the judge; this was officially explained by the fact that the first judge became seriously ill and required hospital treatment.) The conditions to which Sadretdinov was transferred, according to his statement, like this: five people sit on eight square meters, there are only four beds, and you have to take turns sleeping. The prisoners take turns wearing warm clothes, since the temperature in the room barely rises above zero. According to the defendant, conveyed by the lawyer, the cell is practically not heated, and the radiator and the common area (located on the same eight square meters) are constantly leaking, which is why there is almost one hundred percent humidity there. “Since the transfer, Fail’s seizures have practically not stopped, and we seriously fear for his life,” said Mr. Koblev.

Yesterday, lawyers prepared several appeals to supervisory authorities and the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service with a request to influence the situation. In addition, today the appeal will be submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Other Inhuman Treatment. In addition to describing the conditions in which Sadretdinov is being held, which the defense regards as nothing other than torture and an attempt to exert pressure, the document will also include other facts of ill-treatment of witnesses in the “Khlebnikov case.”

Eduard LOMOVTSEV