“Four bunks for eight people”: journalist Sergei Karelin, accused in the FBK* case, spoke about the conditions in the pre-trial detention center

The defendant in the case of participation in an “extremist organization,” journalist Sergei Karelin, reported that in pre-trial detention center No. 1 “Matrosskaya Tishina” he was transferred to an overcrowded cell where he had to sleep “jack” on a cot in difficult conditions.

The man spoke about this in his letter to Novaya Gazeta:

“I thought that before the verdict I would sit in Vodnik (SIZO-5). But after the first hearing in the Nagatinsky court, I was transferred, since this court belongs to “Matroska”.

“I was transferred to cell 246 - 4 bunks for 8 people. <...> Everyone in this cell has serious articles, but the guys are young, only one person is older (article 275 [treason] and others."

“We slept on a felt bed, but not on a bunk, where there was a straight and hard surface, but on a prison cot with a “pit” in the center. It's 7 am, I'm about to go for a walk with two neighbors. We took a walk. The first time I took the jacket, it was +4. When I was walking back I met Grigory Melkonyants - he is sitting in the next cell. In the cell where I am now there is 0 personal space. Much worse than in the cell where there were 13 people in Vodnik. I want to go back to the quarantine cell.”

The journalist's lawyer Katerina Tertukhina, in a conversation with Novaya, noted that she considers such conditions of detention to be torture: in such a situation, her client cannot fully prepare for the trial - there are more than 50 volumes in the file.

• Currently, the Nagatinsky Court of Moscow is considering a case against journalists Sergei Karelin, Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov and Artem Kriger behind closed doors. They are accused of participating in the creation of materials for the YouTube channels of Alexei Navalny’s team.

* recognized as extremist in Russia, its activities are prohibited