Russia ignores the needs of Ukrainian political prisoners for medicines and medical care: ZMINA met with Henry Marsh

On December 18, Henry Marsh, a British neurosurgeon who has been helping Ukrainian doctors for two decades, visited the office of Human Rights Centre ZMINA. Together with Rachel Clarke, with whom he co-founded Hospice Ukraine, he met with the head of Human Rights Centre ZMINA, Tetiana Pechonchyk, a human rights defender recently released from captivity, the co-founder of the organisation, Maksym Butkevych, and the organisation’s experts, Yelyzaveta Sokurenko and Maryna Demura.

Henry Marsh shared his observations on the state of healthcare in Ukraine and asked about the provision of medical services to the population in the occupied territories. 

The head of Human Rights Centre ZMINA Tetiana Pechonchyk spoke about the urgent problem related to the absence of quality medical care for more than fifty Crimean political prisoners, the vast majority of whom are Crimean Tatars. 

“This is a threat to their lives. They are not even given proper medical examinations in Russian prisons“, said Pechonchyk. She told how Crimean civilian journalist Iryna Danylovych was forced to go on a hunger strike because her requests for a medical examination were ignored by the Russian prison administration, and two Crimeans died in Russian prisons. 

Yelyzaveta Sokurenko also spoke about a civic activist and volunteer from Kherson, Iryna Horobtsova, who was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison in August this year by the Russians for alleged “espionage”, who suffers from migraines and does not receive medical care.

Henry Marsh and Rachel Clarke promised tried to help raise awareness and draw attention to the problem in the global medical community.

“Dictatorial regimes are afraid of publicity“, stated Henry Marsh. He said that human rights activity is close to him, as his mother was an active member of the British civil liberties movement.

The British neurosurgeon also asked about freedom of speech, censorship in times of war and the influence of Russian propaganda. 

Maksym Butkevych, who spent more than two years in Russian captivity, was convicted by the occupation authorities on trumped-up charges and recently released as a result of an exchange, spoke about his experiences in prison. 

“In prison, we were shown Russian television. I realised then that the Russian propaganda machine is the worst and most disgusting thing I have ever encountered. When I was a journalist in 2008, during the Georgian-Russian war, covering the events in South Ossetia, I saw how Russian journalists worked then, how they told lies. But now I can say with certainty that it was a child’s play compared to the propaganda machine that is now operating in Russia“, Butkevych shared his observations.

Henry Marsh noted that in his homeland, the UK, the vast majority of the population is on the side of Ukraine. 

“Our support for Ukrainians is unquestionable. We are all with you“, said the British neurosurgeon, who has been organising educational programmes for Ukrainian doctors since 2007. 

Rachel Clarke (photo)

His colleague Rachel Clarke spoke about the activities of Hospice Ukraine and its recent successes, which included raising donations to purchase car with medical equipment for a shelter for seriously ill patients in Sambir, near Lviv. 

Henry Marsh (photo)

Hospice Ukraine was founded in 2022 to provide palliative care for patients of Ukrainian hospices. This organisation is just one of the areas of work in Ukraine in which Henry Marsh is involved. The world-renowned neurosurgeon supported the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014, came to Ukraine to give free consultations at the neurosurgical department of the Lviv City Children’s Clinical Hospital, and has been lecturing at Ukrainian universities since the early 2000s. He is also the author of bestselling books translated into Ukrainian – Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery, Neither Sun nor Death. From Life as a Brain Surgeon, And Finally: Matters of Life and Death. Rachel Clarke is also the author of the popular books Dear Life, Your Life is in My Hands and others.