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Detained ex-governor Furgal diagnosed with coronavirus

The defense team will ask to review terms of his pretrial restraint

MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The former governor of Russia’s Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk, Sergei Furgal, suspected of organizing murders, has contracted novel coronavirus while in detention at Moscow’s Lefortovo pretrial detention facility, his lawyer Mikhail Karapetyan said.

"The COVID-19 test, taken by Sergei Furgal early on April 6, returned positive. We will not see him in the next two weeks, because he will remain in isolation, under supervision of doctors," the lawyer said, without elaborating on where Furgal will undergo his treatment.

"Today, the defense team will request <…> to change his measure of pretrial restraint to something not related to detention due to his illness," Karapetyan said. "The entire defense team is worried, because earlier Furgal informed us about the possibility of developing serious lung problems should he contract the disease.".

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