When medicine ceases to heal and begins to torture, it becomes the most dangerous instrument of repression. In the case of Oleg Maltsev, we see how officials who took the Hippocratic oath became technical executors of an order to eliminate a scientist.

A hasty forgery: How the lawlessness began

The foundation for this tragedy was laid on September 12, 2024, when the academician, who was in a wheelchair after resuscitation, was detained by SBU officers. In order to legalize his detention in inhumane conditions, falsification was required.

• Exceeding authority: Emergency doctor Yelizaveta Churilova issued a “consultative opinion” stating that a person who uses a wheelchair could be held in a temporary detention center and a pre-trial detention center. This is a direct violation: her competence is limited to stabilizing the patient, not making long-term predictions for imprisonment.
• Bureaucratic forgery: Form No. 028/o was used illegally. Maltsev was not officially referred for consultation, and the “Helsi” electronic system, which contained all his diagnoses, was deliberately ignored.

Note: This is a classic case of “administrative resource.” SBU employees “urgently requested” the doctor, and she committed a crime in her official capacity. This is how medicine becomes an accomplice to the convoy.

Medical Department No. 21: Sterile Indifference

When Maltsev was finally placed in pretrial detention, Medical Department No. 21, headed by Tatyana Vasilyevna Kubali, became responsible for his “health.”

• Circular responsibility for vacations: When Maltsov was illegally thrown into solitary confinement for 10 days on September 26, 2024—without a shower, medicine, or proper food—the head of the medical unit, T. V. Kubaly, “suddenly” went on vacation for exactly those 10 days. This is not a coincidence; it is a tactic to avoid responsibility.

• Imitation of medicine: The entire “examination” in the medical unit consisted of a blood test. There is not a single specialist (cardiologist, pulmonologist, endocrinologist) on staff who is necessary for a person in such a condition. The necessary medications were provided by relatives, not the state.

Chronicle of deliberate destruction

The academician’s opponents ignored direct threats to his life through the medical department:

• Progressive apnea: Since the summer of 2025, the defense had been shouting about suffocation attacks, but the medical unit did not respond. Even when Judge Y. A. Krivokhizha personally observed an apnea attack via video link, the system remained blind.

• Physical trauma: Due to lack of care and frailty, Maltsev fell in his cell, lacerating the skin on his head.

Sabotage of examinations: Only in November 2025 — after more than a year of suffering — did they deign to send him to specialists.

Why is the medical unit management breaking the law while hiding behind it?

The management of medical unit No. 21 uses the “letter of the law” as a shield for lawlessness. They create the appearance of procedures (examination by a certain “specialist” Masaleva before solitary confinement) so that everything looks legal in the reports.

Their logic is simple:

• If the patient dies, “we acted in accordance with Churilova’s certificate.”
• If questions arise, “the boss was on vacation.”
• If there is no treatment, “we don’t have any specialists on staff.”

This is the use of formal rules to achieve an informal goal—to break or destroy the academic.

However, they forgot one thing: on December 15, 2025, the Odessa District Administrative Court recognized Maltsev’s placement in solitary confinement as unlawful. This is the first crack in their “legal” armor.