Doctors: ‘Highly plausible’ Pussy Riot member was poisoned

Doctors treating a member of the punk protest group Pussy Riot said Tuesday that it’s “highly plausible” he was poisoned, but they expect the individual to recover, The Associated Press reported.

Doctors in Berlin’s Charite hospital told reporters that Pyotr Verzilov, who is part of the Russian musical group, has been in intensive care since Saturday. The doctors said his symptoms make it “highly plausible that a poisoning took place,” but they’re unsure how it would have taken place.

Doctors said the symptoms Verzilov was experiencing could have been caused by a number of substances, including some pharmaceuticals and plants with certain toxins.

{mosads}Verzilov was hospitalized in Moscow last week after losing his sight, hearing and mobility. Friends and fellow Pussy Riot members quickly suggested he was the victim of a poisoning.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, another Pussy Riot member and Verzilov’s wife, told German newspaper Bild that she believes her husband was the victim of an intentional poisoning, according to Reuters.

A human rights group based in Germany paid to transport Verzilov to Berlin’s Charite hospital, where he arrived by medical transport plane on Saturday.

Verzilov was one of several Pussy Riot members who rushed the field at the World Cup final in Moscow earlier this year.

The group became an international household name after two of its members were imprisoned in 2012 for protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin.