Softer Jail Rules Proposed for ill Suspects
Following the high-profile deaths of two ill prisoners in pre-trial detention, Russian prison officials have proposed that suspects diagnosed with one of 40 illnesses remain at liberty while investigators build cases against them.
Vladislav Tsaturov, who oversees detention facilities for the Federal Prison Service, said that his agency has drafted legislation that would allow judges to grant freedom to seriously ill suspects. The 40 illnesses that would qualify a detainee for freedom include tuberculosis and advanced AIDS and cancer.
Current law allows judges to set free seriously ill convicts, while jailed suspects are easy targets for corrupt law enforcement officials, who withhold medical treatment while pressing for confessions.
Sergei Magnitsky who had acute pancreatitis, died in a Moscow pretrial detention center in November after reportedly being denied medical assistance. Vera Trifonova, who had a severe form of diabetes and other ailments, died of heart failure in a Moscow detention facility last month after prison officials, the lead investigator in her case and a judge denied her access to medical assistance. In another instance, it took two years of court hearings and fierce international pressure before authorities agreed to release former YUKOS vice president Vasily Aleksanyan, who is suffering from cancer and AIDS, in December 2008 on bail of 50 million rubles.