Prisoner for Faith Is Forbidden to Take Necessary Medicine in the Kursk Pre-Trial Detention Center. His Condition Is Critical

Обновление. 27 января 2020 года Артём Багратян переведен из курского СИЗО в больницу, где должно пройти обследование. В начале января руководство колонии позволило родственникам передать Артёму необходимые препараты, которые он начал принимать под наблюдением медработников изолятора. Родные верующего по-прежнему сильно обеспокоены положением дела у Артёма.

The management and doctors of the Kursk pre-trial detention center refuse proper treatment for Artyom Bagratyan, who was arrested for reading the Bible, meeting with fellow believers and talking with others about the Bible. Artem, 47, has diabetes and hypertension, and his condition is deteriorating sharply.

Artyom, along with his wife Alevtina and other believers, were detained in Kursk on October 16, 2019 on charges of extremism. Since then, both spouses and their acquaintance Andrey Andreev have been under arrest in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in the Kursk region.

"In the pre-trial detention center, Artem is not allowed to take the medicines he was taking before his arrest. In the isolation ward, he is given analogues that are ineffective. They also do not provide a special diet," Bagratyan's lawyer said, adding that there is a real threat to the life of the client.

The lawyer visited Bagratyan on December 26, 2019. The next day, December 27, the Leninsky District Court held hearings to extend the measure of restraint. During the meeting, Artem became ill, he had to call an ambulance, because the sugar level and blood pressure increased greatly.

"The doctor did not have a medicine for blood pressure, so we ran to the pharmacy. After that, Artem felt a little better, and the trial continued, "says the lawyer.

Despite Bagratyan's critical health, Judge Tatyana Pozdnyakova extended his arrest until March 11, 2020.

The case of the Bagratyan family is being conducted by the investigator of the FSB of Russia for the Kursk region M.N. Zaitsev.

After Bagratyan's detention in October 2019, a series of raids took place in Kursk. On October 24 and 31, 2019, security forces searched a total of seven houses of believers. On November 6 and 11, three more searches took place.