Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the performance protest band Pussy Riot, has been flown to Germany for medical treatment, after being treated for an unknown illness in the toxicology wing of a Moscow hospital earlier this week.

Verzilov first began to feel unwell Tuesday following a court hearing, the Russian-language outlet Meduza reported, citing a friend of the activist. Though initial tests came up empty, around 1 a.m. Wednesday he was moved into the toxicology section of Bakhrushin City Clinical Hospital.

“When the paramedics arrived, he answered all their questions, saying, ‘No, I didn’t eat anything. No, I didn’t take anything,’” Veronika Nikulshina, Verzilov’s girlfriend, told Meduza. “He was getting worse even faster, and then he started convulsing. On the way [to the hospital], in the ambulance, he was already babbling. ... He fell into such a half-asleep, half-unconscious state that he stopped responding to me and didn’t even recognize me anymore.”



He was flown to Berlin Saturday via a medical transport plane arranged by the German nonprofit Cinema for Peace Foundation, a nonprofit that has worked that with Pussy Riot in the past.

Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova tweeted photos at what appeared to be a German airport Saturday, including a video that seemed to show Verzilov disembarking from an airplane.

