Yegor Lesnyh, one of the major figures of the notorious "Moscow case", has recently shown symptoms of coronavirus while remaining in the "Vodnik" detention center in Moscow. According to his lawyer Eldar Garoz, Lesnyh did not get tested upon the prisoner's request.

For nearly two weeks, Lesnyh displayed the typical Covid-19 symptoms, namely, fever and strong cough. Not only his plea to be tested for coronavirus was ignored, but he was also not isolated from other prisoners. The only medical attention he received during that time was some fever-reducing medicine prescribed by the detention center's paramedic.





Garoz mentioned to the media that the detention center where Lesnyh is being kept is unable to perform testing for coronavirus because there is currently no knowledge of how to do it. Nonetheless, the center's official position is that it has no cases of Covid-19.





When Lesnyh requested to be tested, the initial response was silence. Later, he had his blood taken for testing, even though Covid-19 requires a swab test. After two weeks of illness, Lesnyh began to recover on his own.









Background: On December 6, 2019, Meschanskiy Regional Moscow Court sentenced Lesnyh for 3 years of confinement at a low security detention center on a charge of applying non-life-threatening violence to representatives of law enforcement (Article 318 of the Russian Federation Penal Code). According to investigation, Lesnyh kicked a Special Police Force agent in the back, as well as pushed a National Guard to the ground as the latter was beating up protest participants who were laying on the ground.





News source: Memorial Center for Human Rights

Source language: Russian