Aleksanyan’s lawyers and family have no idea where he has been taken or any proof that treatment has begun or is being provided.

Lawyers and family are concerned for his welfare

Vasily Aleksanyan has apparently been moved to a ‘secret’ location as ordered by the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation.  Neither Aleksanyan’s lawyers nor his family have been informed of his location, nor have they received confirmation that he is receiving treatment for AIDS as required by repeated injunctions of the European Court of Human Rights.

Speaking about his client’s latest plight, one of Aleksanyan’s lawyers, Drew Holiner said: “We are very concerned about Vasily. There is no justification whatsoever for this secrecy.  We have no idea where he has been taken, and this is particularly alarming given Vasily’s repeated statements that he has been placed under pressure to give false testimony by investigators. Pictures of an empty bed have also been released alongside the statement from Federal Penitentiary Service, however, we have no knowledge of whether they are pictures from a hospital, whether Vasily is being held there, or whether he is receiving any treatment at all”.

“We insist that his lawyers and family be informed, immediately, as to his location and his treatment status.  Vasily has legal rights and it is completely unacceptable to hold him incommunicado in a secret location.  Russia needs to realise that the world is watching and Vasily cannot be simply swept under the carpet.  Vasily’s lack of access to his lawyers, particularly at this critical stage when his matter is being considered by the Strasbourg court, is a further violation of the European Convention of Human Rights.”

For further information please contact: Drew Holiner at echr.aleksanyan@googlemail.com