Health condition of convict for appeal to Kadyrov worsens at SIZO

The oncology disease of Zakhar Zaripov, convicted of appealing to the head of Chechnya, is progressing, but he receives no due medical treatment at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), his relatives have reported.

This August, his advocate reported that Zaripov had been diagnosed with cancer. On April 1, 2024, the court sentenced Zaripov to five years of freedom deprivation for his public appeal to Ramzan Kadyrov. A linguistic expertise found signs of "incitement to an armed seizure of power with the aim of violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation" in Zaripov's post.

As reported by his relatives, he cannot eat any hard food due to the growth of his tumour. "The advocate writes appeals to the prosecutor's office and other authorities, but nothing happens," the human rights project "OVD-Info"* quotes one of Zaripov's relatives.

Let us recall that in January 2023 it became known that Zaripov was arrested on charges of inciting terrorism. The human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" recognized Zaripov as a political prisoner, indicating that his post posed no public danger and was a rhetorical reproach to Kadyrov for sending his fellow countrymen to the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.