Relatives demand to disclose cause of death of Jehovah’s Witness* Valery Bailo

In Novorossiysk, employees of the SIZO (pre-trial prison), tried to give out the body of Jehovah’s Witness* Valery Bailo to his relatives without a forensic examination. However, the relatives and defence requested the SIZO administration to disclose the cause of the man’s death.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that 67-year-old Valery Bailo died in the SIZO. Relatives claim that the man complained about his health state, but he was not provided with medical care.

On March 25, the SIZO administration tried to hand over the Valery Bailo’s body to his relatives without conducting a forensic medical examination and issuing a conclusion on the cause of the man’s death. Yuri Bailo, a son of the deceased man, confirmed that he and his “sister did not take the father’s body and did not bury him.”

Advocate Sergey Yanovsky explained that handing over a person’s body without establishing the cause of death is unlawful. “Therefore, the body was left in a morgue for another 14 days until the circumstances and the cause of his death were clarified,” Sergey Yanovsky reported.

Since the person died in custody, it is necessary to exclude a violent nature of his death. If there were signs of violence or other causes of unnatural death, this may be grounds for institution of a criminal case, advocate Sergey Yanovsky explained.

“If the SIZO administration tries to hand over the deceased man’s body without a forensic medical examination (FME), this may indicate an attempt to hide traces of possible crimes,” the advocate concluded.

*All the 396 Russian organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses were recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia were banned by court decision.