His lawyer Yelena Lvova speaks to Selected, the Internet publication, about the measure of restraint imposed on her client by the Moscow City Court.

The measure of restraint which the Moscow City Court today adopted for Vasily Aleksanyan is in itself a severe psychological ordeal. Being guarded round the clock and under constant threat of return to prison are not easy for even a healthy person to bear. Vasily Aleksanyan’s present condition is very poor. Altering certain aspects of his detention — they no longer chain him to the bed, he can take a shower now, they might even allow him a television — will have little effect.

We cannot understand what grounds there are for refusing to permit Aleksanyan a different measure of restraint. After all, he is not a habitual criminal, he has not taken part in terrorist acts nor is he in hiding from the law-enforcement agencies. It is quite incomprehensible why a humane attitude cannot be adopted towards him.

If, for a moment, one accepts the viewpoint of the court and the prosecutor’s office then it is feasible, it would seem, to keep anyone in custody, no matter whether they are blind, deaf or disabled. All that is required is to announce that there are “reasons” why it is not possible to apply a different measure of restraint. What could these be in the case of Vasily Aleksanyan? No one can give a coherent answer to this question, in my view. Accordingly we shall not give up our attempts to change the measure of restraint to which he is subject.

Vasily is now receiving medical treatment and that in itself is a very trying experience. Thus far it is focused only on his HIV condition since, for the time being, it is not possible to combine that treatment with any other. Recently it was suspected that Vasily also has tuberculosis but the necessary diagnosis is only about to begin. Thereafter there follows the next cycle of treatment, also a major intervention, and we have no idea how Vasily Aleksanyan’s system will cope. Whatever the case, we realise that his condition is incurable and all our hopes are pinned on remission. Whether that is realistic, no one can say.

For now Vasily does not sense any improvement in his well-being. On certain days it is possible to ease his condition and sometimes a particular test shows an improvement. These results are not stable, however. It is too early to speak of any positive trend. A month is not a long period for medical treatment, so we are not abandoning hope just yet.