The Nerve Agent Saga: Are the Skripals Being Held Against Their Will in Britain?

Britain and Washington bear full responsibility for whatever harmed them – clearly not a military-grade nerve agent, as falsely claimed.

John Helmer calls himself “the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia,” a longstanding “Russian specialist.”

He called Salisbury Hospital where the Skripals are being treated a “secret rendition center for Yulia Skripal,” stressing:

Chief hospital administrator Cara Charles-Barks hasn’t explained if it obtained consent forms signed by the Skripals after they regained consciousness.

Without them, claims about respecting their privacy “are improper, according to the practice rules of the British National Health Service, and unlawful violations of their human rights, according to British and European law,” Helmer explained.

If attending physician to the Skripals Dr. Christine Blanshard falsified Yulia’s comments, or failed to get consent forms from both Skripals, she and the hospital administrator “can be called to account—in court,” Helmer added.

Yulia, and likely Sergey, are conscious able to speak. Yet they’re being held incommunicado – except for one brief monitored conversation between Yulia and her cousin Viktoria Skripal in Moscow.

British law requires hospitals treating patients to be accountable to their next of kin. For the Skripals, it’s Viktoria. Yet she was denied visa permission to visit her ill relatives for unacceptable reasons.

According to Helmer,

“evidence now accumulating is that the hospital is detaining and isolating the Skripals against their will, preventing contact with their family.”

Viktoria shares the same view, believing Yulia was told what to say during their brief conversation. She’s not able to speak freely or see anyone she chooses.