Two of Russia’s oldest Crimean Tatar political prisoners were hospitalized last week after a court hearing needed to be adjourned because 61-year-old Servet Gaziev was in agonizing pain and couldn’t stand. Russian doctors are nervous of taking decisions in keeping with their Hippocratic oath when it comes to political prisoners, and only 59-year-old Dzhemil Gafarov, who has life-threatening medical conditions which, even according to Russian legislation, should preclude detention, was kept in hospital. Despite acute pain and high blood pressure, Gaziev was sent back to the Russian remand prison, where the conditions are tantamount to torture. If the person seems likely to survive to the end of their shift, the medical staff presumably prefer to avoid annoying Russia’s FSB and prosecutors.
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Halya Coynash: Crimean Tatar political prisoners rushed to hospital
A view of the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in downtown Moscow on Dec. 21, 2020.
