Moscow:The head of the Russian library of Ukrainian literature, who faces imprisonment in Russia for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred, has suffered health problems in custody, her lawyers said on Friday.
Russian investigators said on Thursday they had raided the library of Ukrainian literature in Moscow and detained its 58-year-old head, Natalya Sharina, as ties between the two former Soviet states remain at their nadir.
The Investigative Committee said Sharina is suspected of inciting ethnic hatred and violating human dignity by distributing books by Ukrainian ultranationalist author, Dmytro Korchynsky, whose works are banned in Russia.
Sharina faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.
One of Sharina's lawyers said the librarian had experienced two bouts of high blood pressure after being taken into custody.
"The first hypertensive crisis happened at midnight, this was the day before yesterday -- her blood pressure was 250/110, then there was another one 12 hours later," lawyer Evgeny Smirnov said Friday on radio.
"She went without sleep and medical attention all that time," he said, adding that investigators had refused to send her to hospital.
Sharina was not available for comment, but a prominent rights activist said the librarian had complained that law enforcement had planted banned literature in the library.
"She said they had planted a large batch of books during the searches," activist Zoya Svetova told AFP after speaking to Sharina.
Another member of her defence team said Sharina was not at the library when the searches began.
"We don't know what has been seized," lawyer Ivan Pavlov told AFP.
Sharina's deputy, Vitaly Krikunenko, has said the library did not keep Korchynsky's books and called the accusations against her "absolute nonsense."
Ties between Russia and Ukraine collapsed after Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea in March 2014 following a popular uprising that ousted a Kremlin-backed leader.
Moscow then extended support to Russian-speaking separatists in the east of Ukraine and was accused by the West and Kiev of sending troops to prop up the insurgency. Russia denies the charges.
AFP
