Members of the PMC were informed of the refusal of the former head of the Yukos security service, Pichugin, to communicate with them in the Lefortovo detention center.

Members of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission (POC) in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center were shown a letter from the former head of YUKOS security, Alexei Pichugin, refusing to communicate with them. about this in his Telegram channel . spoke Commission member Alexey Melnikov

“Verbatim in the statement was written the following: “Dear...! I kindly ask you to protect me from meetings with members of the POC. Thank you in advance, with respect A.V. Pichugin, date, signature,” added Melnikov.

The human rights activist noted that due to the coronavirus, members of the Public Monitoring Committee cannot come to the prisoners’ cells. “That is, before we could go into a cell and, if a citizen did not want to communicate, he could inform us about it personally <...> now, due to the ban on cell by cell inspection, we are forced to be content with such statements,” Melnikov explained.

In July, Pichugin, sentenced to life imprisonment, was taken out of the Black Dolphin colony in Orenburg. Before the trial, he refused lawyers, Novaya Gazeta wrote , citing sources. In the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, members of the POC were refused access to Pichugin due to quarantine.

A former Yukos employee was found guilty of two murders and two attempted murders in 2005. In 2006, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case of organizing three more murders, including the mayor of Nefteyugansk Vladimir Petukhov, and four attempts.

In 2016, Pichugin was already transferred to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center for interrogation , but it is unknown on what specific case he was interrogated. An Interfax source claimed that this is connected with a new case against the ex-head of YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.