Krasnodar rights defenders ask to release the disabled person from SIZO

The Krasnodar branch of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) has complained to the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory about the custody conditions at the local SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the wheelchair-bound Alexander Kiba, his advocate said on December 3.

The disabled person, accused of illegal possession of marijuana, has been at the Krasnodar SIZO since March this year.

Now, his case is being considered by the Kalinin District Court; and the defendant is taken there in an ambulance, as he is a Category I invalid – part of his body is paralyzed after a stroke, his advocate, Tatiana Tretyak, has explained.

At the SIZO, he is kept in a cell intended for 22 inmates; the premises are not equipped with facilities for people with disabilities, and cellmates have to take care of him there, she has added. "Keeping a disabled person in such conditions is not just inhuman, but is equal to torture," the CaT quotes the advocate as saying.

The Krasnodar branch of the CaT has appealed to the regional prosecutor, Sergey Tabelsky, asking him to check the conditions in which the disabled person is kept at the SIZO and to appeal against the court decision to extend the invalid's custody, Ms Tretyak has added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 4, 2018 at 08:58 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.