12-17 February 2025
by Anna Karetnikova
Source: Facebook
12 February 2025
[Here is] a link to a detailed article from OVD-Info on the state of prison healthcare, using examples from political prisoners. I’m not saying anything new there, but the material provides insight into what’s happening and why things are the way they are.
Have a read – it’s important to know, and it’s written in an engaging way.
Source: Facebook
Extract from :'”Thou shalt not kill, but simply let them die”: How the Penitentiary Service medical system destroys prisoners’ health,’ OVD-Info, 11 February 2025
‘OVD-Info spoke with Anna Karetnikova, a former lead analyst at the Moscow branch of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) and a human rights activist, about the systemic problems in healthcare within Russia’s prison system. As an FSIN analyst, from 2016 onwards, she visited pre-trial detention centres and tried to address issues faced by detainees and prisoners. In January 2023, she was removed from her position. Colleagues warned her that remaining in Russia was unsafe, and she left the country.
‘She said that apart from the case of Aleksei Navalny, she could not recall a time when a political prisoner’s health had been deliberately used as a means of mistreatment “with the specific intention of causing suffering.”
‘“For example, in Moscow, [opposition politician] Gorinov wasn’t given his medication until I intervened. And in Aleksei’s case, the public outcry eventually forced the authorities to act. But it wasn’t done to torture him – rather, the mentality was simply: why provide medical care if you don’t have to? Everyone is used to the fact that doctors are busy, medicines are unavailable. The attitude is: he’ll just have to get used to it too. But this isn’t targeted, personal cruelty,” she explained.
‘However, she emphasised that the entire medical system within the FSIN is in a catastrophic state and needs “deep structural reform.”
‘“In Moscow, there isn’t even a surgeon in every prison medical unit. The situation with medication is terrible. As far as I know, the budget for healthcare is shrinking year by year. The equipment is outdated. No matter how much we fought for CT or MRI scanners to be installed at least in Matrosskaya Tishina [a notorious Moscow detention centre], nothing was provided. So if a patient needs a scan, you have to negotiate with a civilian hospital – and they don’t like dealing with prisoners,” Karetnikova said.
‘It was in Matrosskaya Tishina that poet Artyom Kamardin, sentenced to seven years for reading poetry at an anti-mobilisation event (Mayakovsky Readings), suffered from severe back pain but was unable to get a medical examination.
‘Moreover, FSIN authorities are reluctant to accept aid from prisoners’ relatives. Karetnikova explained that if a prison doctor accepts donated medicine, they risk being accused of mishandling resources.
‘“The moment they take tablets from outside, higher-ups will question them: Why is everyone else managing, but you’re not? Where did your stock go? Maybe you’re stealing? Maybe you want to end up in prison yourself? So in order to avoid scrutiny, they just pretend the issue doesn’t exist. For visiting commissions or prosecutors, they’ll lay out medicine boxes neatly on display. But if you ask to see a second pack – then the trouble begins. They’ll either try to conceal the shortage or shift the blame onto someone else,” she said.
17 February 2025
Yesterday we went to lay some flowers. The only place we can go – Paris. But it turns out that laying flowers wasn’t so simple: the site was accompanied by an event in the spirit of some kind of official Pushkin celebration… I won’t be too critical, but it seemed to me that Aleksei himself, as I knew him – lively, energetic, always up for a joke, for an exchange with the audience – wouldn’t have liked such an event very much.
To be fair, judging by Nikita Muravyov’s excellent photos, things became a little more dynamic later on. But we had a train to catch, and we left feeling that Navalny had died a hundred years ago, and that the keepers of tradition – familiar with his work only from textbooks – had routinely and formally read their speeches from their phones at yet another annual ceremony. Sometimes, they signalled when it was time to applaud.
I think it was only a representative from the Paris city council who said, “Heroes do not die”. Thanks to Riva, who brought some warmth to the moment by handing out candles to those gathered, we felt something… something important, the very reason we had come.
I think even just silence would have been better, or something meaningful in what was being said… but this format somehow… oh well, I promised not to be too critical. In any case, it’s useful to observe an event from the outside, to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. And there is still so much to be done.
Respect to everyone who went to lay flowers in Russian cities! I kept rewatching footage of the endless queue at Borisov Cemetery. That, in itself, gives hope. It certainly gives me hope.
We also took part in an evening of writing letters to Russian political prisoners at the Turgenev Library. This was a much brighter, more positive experience. Some were writing, others were drawing, some were offering advice, answering questions, and joking. And it felt like everyone knew exactly why we were there and what we were doing. So, a big thank you to the organisers and everyone who supports political prisoners.
And yes, a year has already passed. It’s difficult to grasp. So many tragic dates, so many losses marking the passage of time… I wish we were counting down to something, rather than looking back from something.
And to bring that moment closer.
Source: Facebook
Translated by James Lofthouse
