Freeland monitors suspected poisoning of Canadian member of protest group Pussy Riot
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is taking a personal interest in the possible poisoning of a Canadian member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot.
German doctors have been treating a Pyotr Verzilov, a Pussy Riot member, since he arrived in Berlin on the weekend from Moscow.
One physician told reporters on Tuesday that claims Verzilov was poisoned are “highly plausible.”
But doctors don’t know how it could have happened or who might be responsible.
Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt of Berlin’s Charite hospital told reporters that Verzilov’s condition is not life-threatening.
Freeland said Tuesday that she spoke with Verzilov’s mother on Friday and assured his family he will have the government’s full support because he is a Canadian citizen.
“Pyotr’s situation is one that our government is following with very close interest and it is one that I am personally very closely engaged in,” she said Tuesday.
Verzilov and other members of the Pussy Riot group served 15-day jail sentences for disrupting the World Cup final in Moscow in July to protest excessive Russian police powers.
Eckardt said Verzilov fell ill on Sept. 11 after attending a friend’s court hearing in the Russian capital, and was admitted to a Moscow hospital that evening with symptoms that included disorientation and widened pupils.