“Animals in a veterinary hospital are better off than prisoners in a prison hospital”

In Primorye, political prisoner Samsonov could die at any moment, but the Federal Penitentiary Service does not agree to the necessary operation

Former deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Primorye Artem Samsonov, sentenced to 13 years on charges of allegedly corrupting a minor and recognized as a political prisoner, has a completely destroyed aortic valve. Over the course of 2.5 months in the prison hospital, he only got worse; in addition, he complained about unsanitary conditions, lack of doctors and proper treatment. The wife sounds the alarm: Artem must be hospitalized immediately, he literally could die at any moment. She has already agreed with the FEFU Medical Center (where they undertake such complex operations), they are ready to take the patient. But the medical unit of the FSIN, of course, does not show enthusiasm. And on Friday, Artyom was sent from the prison hospital in Vladivostok to the maximum security colony in Volchanets, not even directly, but with other prisoners through Ussuriysk, which is in the other direction altogether.

While still in pretrial detention, Samsonov, with the help of his loved ones, began running his own Telegram channel. From it it became known that at the end of July the politician was admitted to the Federal Penitentiary Service hospital, which is located on the territory of pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Vladivostok (he is in penal colony No. 27 of maximum security in the village of Volchanets, a three-hour drive from the capital of Primorye). The problem, as it turned out, was with the heart. It had been sick since the beginning of the year, after, as doctors say, he had infective endocarditis in the colony.

We quote a post in the telegram channel of Artem Samsonov:

“I’ve been at the MOB (FKU KB GUFSIN of Russia) for two weeks now, and it seems to me that the situation of the animals in the veterinary hospital is better than that of prisoners in the prison hospital. In the hospital, at least the veterinarian examines the animals; here the doctor examined me once upon admission.

At the same time, they took away absolutely all the medications and vitamins that I took and are not giving them to me. For example, pills for gout, which I have been taking without a break for ten years, including in a pre-trial detention center and in a colony. But in the prison hospital there is no simple therapist who can give the command to give them to me. They took away the Optimen vitamins, but there is no other way to get vitamins, because for some unknown reason it is forbidden to transfer vegetables to the prison hospital. They took the medicine for the fungus, they promise that a dermatologist will come, but how can someone come who is not there?

At the same time, they bring me new pills for blood pressure, which no one measures. And my blood pressure monitor, which was with me in the pre-trial detention center and in the colony, was also taken away. They said that it was forbidden to have a blood pressure monitor in the hospital, probably so that I wouldn’t complain that the pills I was taking were giving me a pounding heart and a headache. It doesn't matter though

You can’t complain to anyone, because there is no medical rounds here at all. It is a paradox and nonsense to prescribe new blood pressure pills without monitoring your blood pressure.

I’m already silent that in two weeks we were never taken out for a walk. In general, I was sent to the hospital to complete an examination regarding a tumor that was discovered last summer, but without reporting it, they rushed to send me to a colony. I hope that everything will work out with oncology, but as a result of staying in the prison hospital without walks, without treatment, without vitamins, I will only get an exacerbation of existing diseases.”

In addition, Samsonov complained about the invasion of cockroaches in the prison hospital and that they crawl over your face at night and not only eat food if you leave it on the bedside table, but do not disdain pills and even a leather case for glasses (the Federal Penitentiary Service did not confirm these complaints , although he did not refute). And since the electricity is turned off at night, according to the patient, the cockroach layer has time to thaw in the refrigerator and then freeze again.

During the so-called treatment, the cockroaches obviously improved their situation, but Samsonov, not so much. As his wife Olga told Novaya’s correspondent, Artem’s health now leaves much to be desired. His heart constantly hurts, and he becomes out of breath when walking even short distances. Since there is a shortage of cardiologists in prison, the wife arranged for a doctor to be allowed in “from outside,” who gave orders to examine the patient in an ordinary regional hospital. Echocardiography showed that Artem Samsonov’s aortic heart valve was destroyed into dust, and he was diagnosed with “heart failure of the 2nd degree” (until 2021 he was observed by doctors, there was no such diagnosis).

Every day he gets worse, and besides, the treatment in the prison hospital is specific.

Olga Samsonova has agreed on an operation for her husband outside the quotas; cardiac surgeons at the Center for Cardiovascular Surgery at the FEFU Medical Center are ready to accept the patient on October 15th. He needs an aortic valve replacement; such operations are performed in a few clinics in the region. Actually, according to the law, a convicted person can be operated on in regular hospitals (they are taken there under escort, FSIN officers are also present during the operation). State Duma Deputy Alexey Kornienko, in an address to the Governor of Primorye Oleg Kozhemyako and the Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Arkady Gostev, notes that the legal grounds for this are listed in Art. 26 of Federal Law No. 323-FZ “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”, and in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1466. But requests are requests, and “you can operate” does not mean “should”.

Despite the fact that the leadership of the medical unit of the Primorye GUFSIN (including the head of the FKUZ MSCh-25 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia Tatyana Shcherbakova) knows about the results of the examinations and the recommendations of the doctors, Olga Samsonova received consent for an urgent operation only in words. In fact, after two and a half months in the prison hospital, on Friday, October 11, Artem was discharged and sent by paddy wagon to Volchantsy. They said that he was “removed from allowance” and did not even feed him breakfast. Moreover, according to the wife of the convict, they were transported through another settlement - Ussuriysk (and this is another five hours plus to the trip).

At the same time, the Primorye GUFSIN commented on what was happening like this: prison doctors registered Samsonov at the FEFU Medical Center on October 31. By this date he will be returned to Vladivostok. And it is inappropriate to leave him in the prison hospital, because there is a “shortage of places.”

“The convict spent 2.5 months in our treatment and preventive institution of the criminal executive system. He underwent a laboratory and instrumental examination and a clinical diagnosis was made. During this time, drug therapy was carried out, and he was made an appointment with a specialized doctor to determine further tactics. But this entry is for the end of October. Therefore, taking into account the fact that he was in the hospital and passed all the examination, he has no medical indications for being in the hospital. He was discharged with recommendations for a medical and protective regime and re-referral to the same medical institution by the date of the consultation,” the PrimaMedia agency quotes a representative of the GUFSIN.

At the same time, it is not specified why, after such serious treatment, Samsonov did not feel better in 2.5 months, on what basis he was given the pills, where is the tonometer, why should he roll it back and forth along the edge, what is the sacred meaning of the date October 31, and what is there? , after all, with cockroaches?

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Artem Samsonov is a former deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Primorye from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, head of the Vladivostok branch of the party and one of the most prominent politicians in the region. In November 2021, after very successful elections (largely thanks to Samsonov’s work) for the regional branch of the party and demands to deal with fraud, he was arrested. The accusations made from the first day looked completely absurd - allegedly, back in 2018, Samsonov, while on the territory of a tent camp in the company of adults, took a dildo from the table and voiced information about the features of its use. There was allegedly an 11-year-old boy in the same company who heard everything. What was heard was regarded as “other violent acts of a sexual nature, using violence against the victim, taking advantage of the helpless state of the victim, committed against a person under 14 years of age” (clause “b”, part 4 of article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) . Samsonov was tried for this and given 13 years in a maximum security colony.

We write “allegedly” because during the trial, lawyers Natalya Kasilova and Igor Melnik presented convincing evidence that their client and this boy were not in the same place at the same time in 2018. In addition, the editors have at their disposal denunciations from one of the key prosecution witnesses, as well as evidence that she and Samsonov were on bad terms. Moreover, this woman was the mistress of the child’s father, the dildo belonged to her. At the end of August 2023, the human rights project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial"* ( recognized as a foreign agent, liquidated ) called Artem Samsonov a political prisoner.