Suspected Poisoning Is a Warning Sign to Russian Activist

Russian political activist Pyotr Verzilov was discharged from the hospital Charité at Humboldt University in Berlin on September 27 after spending over two weeks in intensive care. This follows the sudden appearance of symptoms, including loss of speech and mobility, on September 11 after Verzilov spent the morning attending a friend’s court hearing. Once admitted to the hospital, doctors diagnosed his rapid deterioration to be probably a result of poisoning. Verzilov suspects that this was a targeted attack by the Kremlin to deliver a warning to him and other activists.

Verzilov received international attention earlier in 2018 when he and three other protestors ran onto the Fifa World Cup field in Moscow during the final match dressed as police officers. Though each protestor was given a very light sentence, the police re-arrested them almost immediately for unspecified additional charges.

Verzilov worked with the protest-art group Voina and was once married to Nadya Tolokonnikova, the mastermind behind Pussy Riot, the prominent all-female protest group. He also works as publisher for MediaZona, an independent news site covering Russia’s criminal justice system. Verzilov is also known as a radical actor in the protest against the Russian regime.

On the day that Verzilov fell ill, speculation circulated on Telegram, the messaging platform that plays the role of modern-day samizdat, which refers to the illicit reproduction and circulation of banned political literature under the Soviet regime. The semi-anonymous users reported that Verzilov had been investigating the early August deaths of three Russian journalists in the Central African Republic (CAR).

At the time of their deaths, the journalists were making a documentary about the activities of the Wagner Group in the CAR, which is an allegedly Kremlin-funded private military company. Verzilov suspects that his investigation is the best explanation for what was mostly likely a poison attack.

This incident parallels the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in England. The Russian government has a history of suppressing and harshly punishing political dissenters dating back to the Soviet era. In the past decade, however, death by poison has become increasingly common for political enemies of the Kremlin.

Verzilov remains in Germany to continue recovering, though he has plans to return to Russia to continue his work as an activist. “Artistic activism is particularly important in Russia, because of the specifics of our political and social reality,” he said in an interview with DW News. “Our activism comes from the lack of possibilities for self-expression.”