HR Activists Demand Medical Treatment for Yukos Partner Lebedev

Rights activists rallied Monday to protest the confinement of Menatep head Platon Lebedev, who is being tried together with former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and whose poor health requires medical assistance, Interfax reports.

About ten protesters gathered in front of the Moscow office of the main directorate for the execution of punishment in Moscow, with signs reading “Denial of medical care is a death penalty!” and “Stop torturing Platon Lebedev!”

“Whether Lebedev is guilty or not is a separate issue,” one of the organizers, the head of the For Human Rights movement Lev Ponomaryov, was quoted by the news agency as saying. “The most important thing he needs right now is adequate medical treatment.”

Lebedev suffers from serious liver problems — doctors suspect he may have cirrhosis or even liver cancer. His diagnosis has already been presented in court.

Earlier the rights activists sent a letter to the justice authorities saying that his health was in serious danger, a fact they say was confirmed by Russian and foreign medical experts.



HERE