By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian President Dimitry Medvedev has pledged to fully investigate the most recent death of a prisoner being held while awaiting trial in a Moscow jail.

Prisoner Vera Trifonova, 53, died on Friday at the Matrosskaya Tishina prison near Moscow while being held on fraud charges.  At the time of her death, Trifonova was being held in the same prison that Sergei Magnitsky was in when he died last year due to an untreated medical condition.

Medvedev’s quick response to reports of the death off Russian prisoner comes after the intense national and international scrutiny that Russia and its prison system faced last year following the death of prominent lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.  The Russian Investigative Committee stated a comprehensive investigation would be made into the facts surrounding Trifonova’s death.

In the aftermath of Magnitsky’s death, twenty leading officials in the Russian prison system were fired.  It was determined that Magnitsky had developed pancreatitis while in prison but did not receive the proper medical attention.

Prior to her death, Trifonova had been suffering kidney failure and diabetes.

Trifnova’s defense attorneys stated that they had petitioned for her release prior to trial because of her fragile medical condition.  “However, the pre-detention center’s administration, investigators and court officials decided that [Trifnova was] able to withstand the conditions of the ward.  Perhaps the story with Magnitsky did not teach anyone a lesson.”

Vladimir Zherebyonkov, a member of Trifnova’s defense team, also alleged that the chief investigator in Trifnova’s case had offered to release her from prison if she confessed to the charges against her.  “They have actually led her to death.  Knowing that she needed special medical care, like hemodialysis, they still put her in prison, where she could not have received such aid, of which the prison administration chief said at the very state.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Another prison death at Moscow jail being probed – 1 May, 2010

RIANOVOSTI – Russia’s Medvedev orders full investigation into prison death – 1 May, 2010

TAIWAN NEWS – Russia investigates another prison death – 1 May, 2010

INTERFAX – Woman who died in prison Friday was offered freedom in exchange for confession – 30 April, 2010

RIANOVOSTI – Russian prosecutors probe death of seriously ill woman in pre-detention center – 30 April, 2010