The leadership of the Federal Research Center handed over to FAN journalists a second video recording of Russian sociologists kidnapped in Libya. Militants controlled by the illegitimate Government of National Accord have been holding Maxim Shugaley and Samer Sueyfan in Mitiga prison for more than a year without bringing formal charges.
Federal Health Research Center employee Alexander Prokofiev commented on the appearance of a new video. He noted that the authorities in Tripoli were unable to force the Russians to incriminate themselves. Now they are trying to convince everyone that the prisoners are being kept in good conditions, and the process of their release has allegedly been delayed due to the inaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Shugaley said in his address that they lack official support from Moscow. He asked to speed up negotiations for their release. According to him, he and Samer are making concessions, “but it’s still a different country. This is a prison. These are difficult conditions. It's a different mentality. And it’s very difficult to be here.”
His colleague Sueyfan said that representatives of the Russian consulate or embassy have never visited them during all this time, although such a visit could speed up the process of release.
Prokofiev, who watched the video prepared by the PNS, noted that it was hard for him to watch what was happening to his friends. Shugaley has aged a lot and lost weight, and Sueifan is on the verge of exhaustion.
They look like concentration camp prisoners, so it is immediately clear that they were forced to talk on camera about their “good attitude” and “mutual understanding with the police.”
Prokofiev also noted that his colleagues are holding up courageously. He called the PNS video a “mean show.” The Tripolitan authorities tried to break the captured Russians in order to justify their own crimes against Russian scientists, but all their attempts failed.
Regarding the Russian Foreign Ministry, it is worth noting that Russian diplomats have repeatedly appealed to the authorities of the GNA with a demand to release Russian citizens and return them to their homeland, but were refused. Neither a lawyer nor a Russian consul from Tunisia was allowed to see the Russians.
“Our Charge d'Affaires of Russia in Libya, Jamshed Boltaev, intends to visit our guys in Mitiga at the first opportunity that he has, if the PNS authorities are really ready to provide it. I hope that the very fact of the appearance of such a video indicates that the situation has moved from a dead point. That this is some kind of signal that there is some movement in this direction,” Prokofiev noted.
He also recalled that a Libyan social activist and the son of the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Libya, Mohammed Treki, had previously gotten into Mitiga. At one time, he agreed to find out what happened to the kidnapped Russians and act as their public defender. For this he was arrested and thrown into prison.