Earlier this summer, four members of Russian punk band/protest art collective Pussy Riot were arrested after they jumped onto the field during the World Cup final. After being denied access to a lawyer, all four of them were sentenced to 15 days of “administrative arrest” and were banned from attending sporting. In a horrifying follow-up, though, it seems like that was far from the end of the story. This all comes from NPR, which is reporting that one of the arrested activists, Pyotr Verzilov, seems to have been poisoned at some point during or after a court appearance on Tuesday.
According to fellow Pussy Riot member Veronika Nikulshina, Verziolv began to feel unwell just a couple of hours after returning home from his court hearing. First, his vision began to go, followed by his ability speak, and by the time paramedics arrived he “started convulsing.” He was able to tell the paramedics that he hadn’t eaten or taken anything, but his condition quickly started to get worse and he began “babbling” while on the way to a hospital. Pussy Riot then said on Twitter that it was looking for a toxicologist that the members could talk to about Verzilov, who the tweet said “was poisoned.”
A Pussy Riot spokesperson in the U.S. said that doctors still haven’t given “clear information” on what happened to Verzilov, and while he is still in critical condition, he is expected to survive. As for why everyone involved is assuming Verzilov was poisoned, let’s just say this isn’t the first time a political dissident in Russia has become mysteriously ill.