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Russian national under arrest in US severely poisoned in pre-trial detention center

According to Ivan Melnikov, he hopes for an easing of the restrictive measure or for an early exchange

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, arrested in the United States on charges of money laundering, has suffered strong poisoning in a detention center, Ivan Melnikov, the deputy president of the Russian division of the International Human Rights Defense Committee (CIPDH), has told TASS.

"The other day after eating prison food Vinnik felt symptoms of severe poisoning. That day he had beans and fish," the human rights activist said. Melnikov said that Vinnik was denied the necessary medical care. Only after the intervention of lawyers he was given "a couple of pills."

"The cause of the poisoning remains unclear. Vinnik still feels unwell. His condition is alarming. He also has a number of chronic diseases. At the pre-trial detention center there is no opportunity to receive proper medical care," Melnikov said. According to the human rights activist, he hopes for an easing of the restrictive measure or for an early exchange.

On July 25, 2017, Alexander Vinnik, a Russian IT specialist, was detained during his vacation in Greece at the request of the United States, where he is accused of laundering $4-9 billion through the no longer existing crypto exchange BTC-e. He was extradited to the United States on August 4, 2022. His case is currently being prosecuted in the Northern District Court of the State of California.