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Jailed investigator Baykova suffering from kidney failure, lawyer says

Svyatlana Baykova is suffering from kidney failure, Mikhail Volchak, the lawyer of the senior investigator who has been held in custody since this past February, told BelaPAN.

Ms. Baykova was undergoing tests at the hospital of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Minsk on Friday.

The lawyer expressed hope that his client would be either hospitalized or released from custody after the results of the tests came back. He described her condition as "critical."

Mr. Volchak said that he had petitioned KGB Chairman Vadzim Zaytsaw and Prosecutor General Ryhor Vasilevich to release the woman on her own recognizance due to her ill health or transfer her to a hospital for "urgent" treatment.

Ms. Baykova, a senior investigator with the Prosecutor General’s Office who investigated charges against a former chief of the State Control Committee's Financial Investigations Department and other people involved in a high-profile smuggling case, was arrested by KGB officers on February 25.

The arrest warrant, issued by KGB chief Vadzim Zaytsaw, accused the investigator of illegally dropping charges and abusing her office, offenses penalized under the Criminal Code’s Article 399 and Article 426, respectively.