Disabled man Obodenko complained about the lack of medical care in the colony

Prisoner of the colony in the Volgograd region Sergei Obodenko is still deprived of any medical care and hygiene, he has stopped eating and drinking, because he cannot use the toilet, his wife said. Supervisory authorities have not responded to the complaints filed, the lawyer claims.  

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, disabled person Sergei Obodenko, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was denied release from the colony in the Volgograd region. The court ignored the medical report that Obodenko's illness prevented him from being held in custody. The convict waited more than two months for a key examination that could confirm the progressive nature of his disease, but the examination was never organized without explanation. At the end of July, Sergei Obodenko's wife met with him on a date and said that his condition had seriously worsened.

Convicted Sergei Obodenko, serving a sentence in the Volgograd Region, today told his wife via video link that he has almost stopped eating and drinking. According to the disabled man, he has no opportunity to use the toilet, and the package of diapers sent to the colony never reached him. Unsanitary conditions and the impossibility of hygiene procedures contribute to the spread of ulcers on his body, which is why the condition of the seriously ill convict is worsening, Svetlana Obodenko told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to the woman, her husband’s condition during today’s video conference session shocked her. “He has ulcers on his arms and legs, as well as ulcers on his body. He showed them to me, they are rotting, itching, crawling. I showed the photo to doctors I know, they said that such ulcers appear against the background of severe stress and a weakened immune system. If he is not urgently transferred to the hospital and sent home, all this will end in death,” she said.

Svetlana emphasized that the disabled person is deprived of even basic medical care in the colony. “They don’t even give him the cheap ointment that I gave him, everything goes to waste. He needs diapers, but only one from the package has reached him. He stopped eating and drinking so as not to suffer, because there is no one to change the diapers. Now he hardly drinks water, only wets his lips, and hardly eats. This leads to dehydration and exhaustion, especially during hot weather. "All this looks like an execution in a closed institution," the prisoner's wife said.

Multiple sclerosis and other progressive diseases of the nervous system are officially included in the list of diseases that prevent serving a sentence in places of imprisonment (approved by RF Government Resolution No. 54 of February 6, 2004, as amended on December 29, 2020), emphasized Obodenko's lawyer Sergey Yanovsky.

"This disease is on the list of diseases for which a person cannot be held in custody. Three medical commissions have already confirmed this in relation to Sergei Obodenko, but none of the courts released him despite the presence of medical reports and a diagnosis. Today, the Supreme Court registered our complaint, this is the last resort. Usually, the Supreme Court considers such complaints within a month, if it requests case materials - up to three months. That is, we can expect a response in the fall, in October-November,” the lawyer told the “Caucasian Knot.”

According to Yanovsky, he had previously demanded that a criminal case be opened under the article on abandonment in danger, indicating that his client was deprived of medical care with a serious diagnosis and was in threatening conditions. “We have not received a response. I also wrote a complaint on July 24 with a request to take urgent measures, because we are talking about a person’s life. According to the law, the prosecutor should have responded within 3-7 days, but three weeks have already passed - and nothing. This is blatant inaction,” the lawyer emphasized.

Yanovsky noted that all the responses from the supervisory authorities state the same thing - allegedly Obodenko is receiving medical care and he is not getting worse. “But we see the opposite, Sergei's condition is worsening every day. Last year, we went to court over the denial of medical care, but the claim was rejected. The system is designed in such a way that they start looking for the culprits only if the prisoner dies, and even then not always. The investigation should have started immediately, because the threat to life is obvious, but prosecutors and officials are dragging their feet," he said.

Lawyer Olga Markova, who is not involved in Obodenko's case, agrees with the opinion that his treatment in the colony allows us to declare a criminal offense. "We see signs of several crimes at once in this situation: Article 125 of the Criminal Code (abandonment in danger), Article 124 of the Criminal Code (failure to provide assistance to the sick), Article 293 of the Criminal Code (negligence). But practice shows that the authorities begin to react only when death has already occurred in the colony,” the lawyer explained, adding that death does not always serve as a basis for inspections and, even more so, punishment of the guilty.

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