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Political analyst Aleksandr Kynev has stopped eating in Moscow pre-trial detention centre SIZO-4 “Medved.” This was reported by lawyer Mikhail Biryukov, writes “Slovo Zashchite” (“A Word for the Defence”).

According to the lawyer, Kynev was transferred to a cell meant for 34 people, where 35 detainees are being held. Instead of a toilet there is a hole in the floor. Because of a plaster cast on his leg, which is broken in two places, the political analyst cannot use it, so over the weekend he stopped eating. The lawyers are seeking for Kynev to be moved to conditions that correspond to his state of health.

  • Kynev was detained on 25 September and sent to a pre-trial detention centre in a case concerning attempted large-scale drug distribution (subparagraph “g,” part 4, article 228.1 of the Criminal Code). The political analyst does not admit guilt. After his detention, Kynev was diagnosed with two fractures of the tibia. “Slovo Zashchite” reported that the injuries may have been the result of torture. A cast was put on his leg and for some time he was in the hospital at the “Matrosskaya Tishina” detention centre in Moscow.
  • On 16 October, Kynev was transferred to SIZO-4 “Medved.” He later wrote in a letter to journalist Gleb Yarovoy that he cannot move around, as he was not given crutches.
  • On 22 October, the Moscow City Court kept Kynev in custody. It later became known that the Moscow branch of the Federal Penitentiary Service found no evidence of his rights being violated, nor of torture or degrading treatment.

15:19 The press service of the Moscow Federal Penitentiary Service stated that Kynev had not filed any declaration of a hunger strike. The political analyst’s lawyer, Mikhail Biryukov, confirmed to Mediazona that formally, his client had not declared a hunger strike, but had decided not to eat until the conditions of his detention were changed. Because of a plaster cast from hip to toes, Kynev cannot use the toilet in the cell.

The news and headline have been updated in connection with statements from the Federal Penitentiary Service and lawyer Mikhail Biryukov.