A dissent from Russia, at the third suicide attempt in the prison in Siberia, due to detention conditions
Maria Ponomarenko Photo: Kommersant Photo Agency / DDP USA / Profimedia
Russian journalist Marian Ponomarenko, sentenced to difficult years in prison for criticizing the Russian invasion in Ukraine, was hospitalized in detention after trying to commit suicide, AFP informs, citing her lawyer. Since February 2022, the Russian authorities have intensified the suppression of dissident voices, imprisoning hundreds of people and banning dozens of NGOs and publications.
In a message on Telegram, lawyer Dmitri Sitov states that Maria Ponomarenko tried to end her days in three rows, July 30-August 9, in the penitentiary in the Altai region (Siberia), where she is closed. “He lost a lot of blood, he needed blood transfusion,” the lawyer wrote.
Maria Ponomarenko (46 years old) was hospitalized from August 12 in a hospital unit for prisoners, where she could be visited by the lawyer. “His condition is” satisfactory “, but I saw it even better,” said Sitov.
According to him, Ponomarenko suffered a nervous depression and tried to commit suicide due to the conditions of detention, which he labeled as “torture”. The journalist was placed several times at the prison in a noisy cell due to the “permanent” works nearby, under unhealthy conditions, with hawk in the cell.
The third suicide attempt took place after being transferred to another penitentiary colony where the guards mistreated it.
Journalist at the Independent publication Rusnews, Maria Ponomarenko was sentenced, in 2023, to 6 years in prison for broadcasting “fake information” about the Russian army after publishing a message denouncing the attacks on refugee civilians in the theater building in the Ukrainian city Mariupol, in 2022.
In March 2024, he received an additional sentence of one year and ten months, after being accused of assaulting the penitentiary supervisors, an accusation she denied. “I have never seen as much violence as I saw in the penitentiary system,” Ponomarenko said during the second trial.
In April, the people entered the strike, and his state of health was degraded, according to the support group on Telegram.
According to the organization Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), “beyond heavy convictions, even torture”, the frequent use of fines and short -term detention is added to the “systematic intimidation of journalists”.
