My heart stopped several times”

“My heart stopped several times”

Maria Bontsler said that over the weekend the temperature in her cell rose above 40 degrees, SOTAvision reports. The woman is being held in Kaliningrad pretrial detention center SIZO-1.

I lay there quietly dying in my cell. Five times a day I soaked the sheets, wrapped myself in a wet sheet, and it still dried instantly. Then over and over and over again. On the 29th I almost died. My heart stopped several times. And in the cell... in the cell it was over 40 degrees. The fifth floor, the roof blazing hot. It was horrible

the human rights defender shared. Bontsler added that she only felt better after a visit to the medical unit and a half-hour cold shower.

Bontsler was able to report what happened via video conference. The Leningradsky District Court of Kaliningrad is now considering her lawsuit against the Regional Clinical Hospital and SIZO-1. The woman is challenging the quality of the medical care she was given and the detention conditions that led to a critical deterioration in her health.

▶️ Maria has been diagnosed with hypertensive heart disease, which is accompanied by blood pressure spikes and a high risk of stroke. At the same time, the courts are not allowing her to undergo the examinations she needs, and the process of establishing the disability status needed to improve her detention conditions in the SIZO is being deliberately delayed.

▶️ A few days ago, Bontsler’s lawyer said that on June 20 the woman nearly died in the SIZO because the medications prescribed to her were not coordinated with each other.

Video: SOTAvision

❗️ Sharing this post publicly may be unsafe because the Russian authorities have declared OVD-Info an extremist organization. But you can still read us and like our posts!