From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 4/8/2006 3:34 PM
7.4.2006 13:34 MSK
Mikhail Trepashkin ends hunger strike
Mikhail Trepashkin
Mikhail Trepashkin
RUSSIA, Nizhniy Tagil. Sverdlovsk Region. On April 5th, attorney Mikhail Trepashkin ended the hunger strike he began on April 3rd. He was taking neither food nor water. The reason for the protest action was the real danger to his safety and life in connection with constant provocations and his worsening in its health.

Trepashkin was protesting outrages perpetrated by the administration of IR -13 and the cover-up of these actions by the procuratorship.

He demanded a meeting with Tatiana Merzlyakova, Sverdlovsk Regional Ombudsmen for Human Rights, in the presence of journalists and human rights activists.

Speaking to journalists in the Independent Press Center, Moscow Helsinki Group member, and Chairman of the Public Council on the Ministry of Justice of Russia, Valery Borshev stated that he and Executive Director of the public movement "For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev together with Tatiana Merzlyakova met in the colony with Mikhail Trepashkin and Sergey Naugolnikh, who supported Trepashkin’s protest. The prisoners explained the reasons for their action. Naugolnikh told human rights activists that the IR-13 Chief Golovin ordered him to give false evidence against one of the prisoners.

Trepashkin and Naugolnikh decided to call off the hunger strike, but it can be renewed if arbitrariness and lawlessness from the side of authorities do not cease.

Human rights activists who visited Trepashkin came to an agreement with the administration of IR -13 about rendering Trepashkin medical aid, Valerie Borshev stated.

Borshev reported that he and Lev Ponomarev will report to Russian Human Rights Authority Vladimir Lukin on April 7th about the situation of Mikhail Trepashkin, including the threat of his transfer into the general population. Lukin is scheduled to meet with the Procurator-General of Russia, Vladimir Ustinov, and a number of others to discuss the fate of Trepashkin.

Journalists were presented with the following statement from Borshev and Ponomarev:
"We, Valery Borshev and Lev Ponomarev, consider Trepashkin and Naugolnikh’s demands to be substantiated.
First of all, we are extremely disturbed by the fate of Trepashkin, since the political motivation for the authorities’ incessant pursuit of him is obvious.

In order to transfer the political prisoner into the general population, where the conditions will be even worse, and the possibilities for persecution even greater, Trepashkin was unjustifiably given several penalties as a result of denunciations by criminals who had been transferred "for good behavior" (i.e. participation in the notorious "Section of Discipline and Order" –SDiP) from the general regime into the colony-setting.
Here are some of the "claims" against Trepashkin, for which he was placed in SHIZO (isolation) three times and was threatened with transfer to the general population (on the initiative of a February 6th disciplinary hearing).

He bought cologne in the city (which was not even brought into the colony)

"He shouted and waved his hands", when talking to the doctor.

He swore at a lawyer (Trepashkin does not swear on principle).

He transmitted a copy of his complaints to his attorney.

Trepashkin is seriously ill with a severe form of asthma, and doctors say he requires treatment in the hospital. Furthermore, he needs his teeth treated. But the colony administration refuses him treatment. Trepashkin is forced to buy his own medicine, although he does not have all he needs. Trepashkin is suffering as a result of self-treatment. <BR.>
Prisoners report that crude violations of human rights occur in the penal colony, complaints do not reach the procuratorship, human rights complaints do not reach anyone; authors of complaints are regularly threatened by Chief Aleksandr Yurevich Golovin, and the most persistent complainers have been transferred to the general population.

The administration propagates rumors that worsening conditions are caused by the presence of Trepashkin in the colony. They say he constantly provokes attacks. The separation of prisoners required by laws is violated. Petty criminals serve time with criminals found guilty of major crimes, but "those embarked on the path of correction", i.e., those in the SDiP, receive better treatment.

We demand that Trepashkin be allowed to be hospitalized in a city hospital.

We demand the immediate separation of the colony from the general population of IR -13.

We demand the investigation of all disciplinary disturbance charges manufactured against Trepashkin.

We demand the investigation of all illegal actions of the administration of colony and procuratorship.

We demand the release of political prisoner attorney Mikhail Trepashkin, who is undergoing continuous severe treatment in connection with the realization of his professional activity as an attorney and for his civic work.
B.B. Borshev, L.A. Ponomarev. April 6, 2006."

Translated by OM Kenney
PRIMA-News Agency [2006-04-06-Rus-39]
http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2006/4/7/35548.html