Rights defenders urge to render medical care to Crimean activist kept at Rostov SIZO

Oleg Prikhodko, a pro-Ukrainian activist, recognized as a political prisoner, is kept at the Rostov-on-Don SIZO (pre-trial prison) and needs urgent medical care, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has reported.

The criminal prosecution of Oleg Prikhodko, a resident of Crimea who sticks to pro-Ukrainian views, began in October 2019. He was charged with illegal manufacture of explosives and preparing a terror act.

On March 3, a court found him guilty and sentenced to five years in a maximum security penal colony, the HRC "Memorial"* reported in a press release circulated on April 16.

The defence insists that the offences imputed to Prikhodko had not been properly proved by investigators. Also, with a high degree of probability, there was a falsification of the main proofs presented in the guilty part of the verdict, says the HRC's press release.

Lyudmila Denisova, the Ombudsperson of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, has asked her Russian colleague, Tatiana Moskalkova, to conduct a full medical examination of the pro-Ukrainian activist from Crimea, Oleg Prikhodko, who is kept at SIZO No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don and complains of swelling and pain in his legs, as well as an exacerbation of his chronic diseases, says the press release.

The HRC "Memorial"* treats Oleg Prikhodko as a political prisoner who needs immediate release from custody and the annulment of the sentence, the press release demands.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 16, 2021 at 07:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.