The investigation proposes that the 75-year-old physicist Viktor Kudryavtsev, who is accused of treason, confess in exchange for a transfer from the SIZO to house arrest. Such offers were received by a prisoner whose health is constantly deteriorating in recent weeks, his lawyer said. In the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia claim that the scientist receives medical aid and medical nutrition in full.
Today, the son of the scientist Viktor Kudryavtsev, who is accused of treason, has reported pressure on his father. According to Yaroslav Kudryavtsev, the investigator promises to transfer the defendant from the Lefortovo SIZO under house arrest if he gives confessions. “Father’s health is constantly deteriorating, and we seriously fear that he may not live to see the court. Under the circumstances, a deal with the investigation and, accordingly, an admission of guilt, which the investigator requires, may be the only chance for the father to see the family. The fact that the investigation has resorted to such tricks suggests that they have neither conscience nor real evidence of his guilt, ”said Yaroslav Kudryavtsev.
Evgeny Smirnov, a lawyer for physics, and a representative of the human rights group “Team 29” left for the detention center urgently. He confirmed to “Kommersant” that the scientist reports pressure on him. “Viktor Kudryavtsev said that for several weeks the investigator repeatedly asked him to sign a pre-trial agreement, give confessions and slander his colleague, promising to transfer him for house arrest. The scientist was reminded that he has poor health, and at home his relatives and grandchildren are waiting for him, ”explained Mr. Smirnov. The lawyer added that Mr. Kudryavtsev showed firmness and did not take the blame. Evgeny Smirnov noted that the investigators only file a petition to the court to transfer the suspect under house arrest, and the last word remains for the judge.
One gets the feeling that the investigation understands: due to poor health, Viktor Kudryavtsev will not live long in a detention facility. And it decided to take two birds with one stone - get a confession and bring it to court, changing the measure of restraint, ”the lawyer added.
A 75-year-old Viktor Kudryavtsev, a staff member at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, was engaged in modeling the flow of airborne launch vehicles of satellites and satellites during launch and landing. He was arrested on July 23rd. According to the FSB, Viktor Kudryavtsev passed to Belgian Von Karman Institute for Hydrodynamics secret information about the use of hypersonic technologies in the Avangard and Dagger combat missile systems. Colleagues and close physicists say that the exchange of information with the institute took place in 2011–2013 in the framework of a joint project with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on the aerodynamics of reusable spacecraft.
Counterintelligence experts believe that the scientific correspondence of the scientist with the Belgian institute was only a cover for the transfer of secret information to the special services of NATO countries, including the United States. At the same time, they are not embarrassed by the lack of access to state secrets by Viktor Kudryavtsev. According to Kommersant’s sources in the special services, his “authority among colleagues was so high that a special form of admission was not required to familiarize himself with secret data.”
In late August, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation asked the investigating authorities to transfer the scientist from custody to house arrest in connection with his age and state of health. Earlier, the St. Petersburg Union of Scientists, uniting more than 900 researchers, appealed to Vladimir Putin with a request to release Viktor Kudryavtsev from the SIZO.
On September 10, experts from the Yeramishantsev City Clinical Hospital made a medical report on the results of a medical examination of Viktor Kudryavtsev, noting he had a number of serious diseases. However, the scientist still left in jail. The detention center went along with the food issue: since Viktor Kudryavtsev needed a special diet, his wife was allowed to deliver homemade food to the detention center twice a week. “This is an unprecedented decision,” said Mr. Smirnov.
Evgeny Smirnov added that the health of the scientist continues to deteriorate. “He hasn’t been allowed to see a doctor for a week,” says the lawyer.
The scientist’s defense believes that under conditions of an insulator it is impossible to follow the recommendations of medical examiners, including the ward treatment regimen, therapeutic walking 3-5 km per day, limiting salt intake, avoiding hypothermia and heavy loads.
“Viktor Kudryavtsev, detained in the SIZO-2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, receives qualified medical care and recommended food in full,” the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia responded to the request of “Kommersant”.
Since the end of October, the petitions site has been collecting signatures for the request of scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, human rights activists and artists to transfer the scientist to house arrest. Currently, over 110 thousand signatures have been supplied to the petition. On the eve, the scientist’s lawyers handed over a petition with signatures to the reception offices of the Federal Security Service of Russia, to the Presidential Administration and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.