Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist convicted of military fakes, reported a beating in a pre-trial detention center

RusNews journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who was convicted of fake news about the Russian army, said she was beaten by doctors from a psychiatric team in SIZO-2 in Biysk. She described the incident in a letter published in Telegram channel editions.

The management of the pre-trial detention center called in a psychiatric team, according to RusNews, because Maria Ponomarenko suffered a nervous breakdown upon arrival in Biysk. According to the publication, the girl was searched in the pre-trial detention center, some of the products from the program were taken away, and they were also forced to undress, to which the journalist refused. After that, a brigade of orderlies was called to the pre-trial detention center.

It follows from the text of the letter that Maria Ponomarenko was “thrown on the search table, her hands were wrapped and tied.” “They beat me while they dragged me out (dragged – they didn’t take me, that’s exactly how) to the ambulance, they beat me on the back, chest, stomach, head, threw me on the steps,” the journalist said.

After that, says Maria Ponomarenko, she was taken to the hospital, where she was kept for three days without any treatment. “On the first day, for not finishing the cocoa on time, the orderly Maxim hit her on the cheeks, in the stomach and chest,” the letter says.

Maria Ponomarenko has been in jail since April 2022. On February 15 of this year, she was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on charges of spreading fakes about the Russian army (clause “e”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The reason for the trial was the post of a journalist on Instagram (owned by extremist Meta banned in Russia) about the shelling of a drama theater in Mariupol.

Maria Ponomarenko said that she was diagnosed with hysterical personality disorder. For about two months she was kept in a cell with sealed windows, which she considered “torture conditions” due to claustrophobia. In September 2022, she opened her veins due to a worsening condition.

Lusine Balasyan