19:27, 26 March 2024

Human rights defender Nagavkin stops his hunger strike, SIZO reports

Igor Nagavkin at the Leninsky City Court of the Volgograd Region. Photo by Vyacheslav Yaschenko for the "Caucasian Knot"

Human rights defender Igor Nagavkin has stopped his hunger strike, reports a spokesperson for the SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Leninsk.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on March 21, complaints from Igor Nagavkin, who has been on a hunger strike in the Leninsk SIZO since March 7, were received by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Volgograd Region. A human rights defender’s sister says the chief of the Prosecutor’s Office assured that his representative would be sent to visit Igor Nagavkin.

The SIZO warder’s statement was questioned by Valentin Bogdan, the executive director of the “In Defence of the Prisoners’ Rights” Foundation*. Valentin Bogdan suggested that if Igor Nagavkin really stopped his protest action, then most likely an officer of the prosecutor’s office visited him earlier and “promised something.”

Let us remind you that the Leninsky City Court of the Volgograd Region is considering the case against Igor Nagavkin, accused of disorganizing the operation of the SIZO. The defendant complained about an organized provocation when he was placed in a cell with “pedophiles,” which caused a conflict between him and the SIZO staff.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 24, 2024 at 01:02 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: СK correspondent