MOSCOW, May 13 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – The wife of a Russian man who is serving a life sentence in prison on terrorism charges filed a request with the Moscow City Court asking for access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, her lawyer, Anton Burkov, told RAPSI on Wednesday.

Nikolai Korolyov, the leader of the Spas extremist club, was given a life sentence after being convicted in a case related to the explosion at the Cherkizovsky outdoor market in Moscow in 2006, which claimed 14 lives.

The Moscow City Court heard the Cherkizovsky market bombing case in May 2008 in a jury trial. The court sentenced eight people to prison terms ranging from two years to life on charges of terrorism, conspiracy, illegal transportation and storage of munitions, and the illegal production of weapons. Nikolai Korolyov was one of the four to have been sentenced to life in prison.

Nikolai Korolyov married Veronika while in a high-security prison in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area in Siberia. Veronika asked the prison authorities to allow her to take Nikolai to a hospital for an examination and for the collection of biological material for subsequent fertilization in an IVF procedure. After her request was denied, Veronika filed a lawsuit with the Babushkinsky District Court and later an appeal with the Moscow City Court.

Both courts ruled in favor of the Federal Penal Service, whose attorneys argued that Veronika could collect the necessary material during a conjugal visit. Under the law, inmates are allowed two four-hour conjugal visits a year.

If the Presidium of the Moscow City Court rules against Veronika, she and her husband will appeal to Russia’s Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, Burkov said.