Pussy Riot activist is conscious after suspected poisoning put him in "black hole"
MOSCOW -- A member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot said he is recovering after spending two weeks in intensive care from a suspected poisoning. Pyotr Verzilov tweeted Tuesday that he only fully regained consciousness three days ago after being in a "black hole" for the previous 12 days.
He added he was "spending days in the great company of wonderful poisons."
Verzilov, who also has Canadian citizenship, has been at Berlin's Charite hospital since arriving from Moscow, where he was previously treated. Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt, who heads the hospital's intensive care department, said last week he expected Verzilov to make a full recovery and hopefully suffer no permanent damage.
In a statement issued last week, Pussy Riot member Nadia Tolokonnikova said Verzilov was "dizzy and confused."
"He remembers his friends and relatives, but he does not understand that he's in Germany, that he's in a hospital and there are doctors around him, not prison wardens. 'Are you the director of the prison?', Peter asked yesterday to the head of the hospital," according to Tolokonnikova.
German doctors treating Verzilov said last week that reports he was poisoned are "highly plausible," but stressed they can't say how this might have occurred or who was responsible.
Tolokonnikova told The Associated Press that Verzilov could have been poisoned because of his investigation into the killing of Russian journalists in the Central African Republic. The journalists were killed in an ambush in July while investigating a Russian military contractor and Russia's interests in the African country's mining industry.
Verzilov was among four Pussy Riot protesters who barged onto the field during the soccer World Cup final in Moscow in July. They ran onto the pitch at Luzhniki Stadium dressed as police officers during the second half of the match between France and Croatia. They used the protest to call for the release of political prisoners in Russia and for more open political competition.
The members of the punk protest collective were handed 15 day jail sentences for their stunt. A Russian court sentenced them after finding them guilty of violating the law on behavior of sports events spectators. They were also banned from attending sports events for three years.