Two lawyers say the former president of the Central Bank of the Transnistrian region Oxana Ionova is held in inhuman and degrading conditions in a penitentiary in Tiraspol. In a news conference on Tuesday, the lawyers said that Oxana Ionova is a victim of the current Transnistrian administration that resorts to legal action and illegal and arbitrary arrests, Info-Prim Neo reports. Lawyer Veaceslav Turcan said the woman is held and tried illegally. According to him, she is in a critical condition as she is held in unsanitary conditions and faces an increased risk of getting dangerous diseases. “While working on the case of Oxana Ionova, I established that there is a complete legal vacuum in the daily judicial practice in the Transnistrian region and there are no efficient mechanisms for defending the human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said the lawyer. He also said that they still impose Soviet restrictions on the volume of food products, including water, which can be transmitted to a person monthly – at most 30 kilograms. This is a form of torture as the quality of food given to prisoners is very bad. All the detainees’ correspondence is examined, including that with law enforcement bodies, international organizations and the European Court of Human Rights. As an example of juridical nihilism, the lawyer told the answer he received from the president of the Tiraspol Court to his request to release Ionova from arrest. “No arrested person and no lawyer can ask for the release of a person,” says the official answer. The second lawyer Igor Guritanu said they have used all the possible mechanisms for defending and protecting Oxana Ionova. They can only file an application to the ECHR against Russia. The lawyer made reference to the known precedent when the High Court found Russia guilty of violating the rights of former Tiraspol detainee Ilie Ilascu because it provided support to the separatist Transnistrian regime. According to Igor Guritanu, Oxana Ionova’s application will be examined by the ECHR in an emergency regime owing to the conditions in which she is held. Oxana Ionova has been under arrest for two months. Last week, the court extended the arrest warrant for another two months. She is accused of misusing her authority while heading the Central Bank in Tiraspol and of embezzlement.