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Alexander Kashin, a man who became paralyzed from his chest down in a car accident involving former US Consul General in Vladivostok Douglas Kent, for ten days keeps his hunger protest saying “I will die or receive money.” He claims $10 million from the US State Department.

In a three-room apartment Alexander lives with his parents. He said he could talk to us in his room, a 2.5 meter in width and 3.5 meter in length space which hosts a massage machine, a motorized wheelchair, a wardrobe and a sofa. A wall-size mirror and wall-paper showing the two American twin towers in their power before the Sep.11 tragedy complete the interior of the room where Alexander spends most of his time. One day indeed can change life with no chance to have things back.

On October 27 of 1998 Alexander was sitting in the backseat of the car which was hit by the sport utility vehicle of the former US Consul General in Vladivostok Douglas Kent. “We were driving along one of the central streets of Vladivostok when Kent’s car crashed into ours. I lost consciousness and came to my senses only after the operation,” Alexander recalls. The doctors saved his life but not his body – the young 23-year-old man got paralyzed from his chest down.

The next nine years passed in a fight for justice.

The police said that the diplomat was responsible for the collision but Russian authorities failed to prosecute him criminally because of his diplomatic immunity. Kent left Russia soon after the accident. In August 2006, the case of Kashin versus Kent was officially closed, with a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the diplomat may not be sued by Kashin due to Kent’s diplomatic immunity.

“Kent’s car broke my neck. He broke my life. He did not answer for it. Nobody has answered. The court ruled Kent can not be sued because he enjoys diplomatic immunity. The State Department he was working for can not be sued because it enjoys sovereign immunity. The only choice for me is to starve,” Alexander says.

“I spent a year here in this room looking out of the window after the court hearings were closed in 2006. I saw no perspectives in my life and I decided to take this final step,” he says gloomily. In a second he firmly adds, “I will continue my hunger strike until I am paid or die. I will not step back – if I give up I will have to agree to live a miserable life.”

Since February 18 his only nourishment has been water. Local doctors come daily to check his blood pressure and temperature. According to them, Kashin’s condition is worsening with his blood pressure going down. “We have prepared a care unit for him but he refused to be hospitalized,” one of the doctors said in an interview over the telephone on Wednesday. She could not immediately say how many days a person can survive without food, emphasizing only that it varies in each individual case.

“The situation is tragic, unusual and complicated. No legal perspectives in his case exist,” said Igor Agafonov, а representative of Russian Foreign Ministry in Vladivostok. According to Agafonov, officials of his branch monitor the situation and send all information concerning the case to Moscow. Agafonov mentioned that they receive most of the information from Kashin’s lawyers in America.

Alexander, who intends to continue his hunger-strike until he receives money, says, “I am not thinking of food. I am reflecting on my life.”

Two days after he started his protest, he received a call from the officials working for the US Consulate General in Vladivostok. They said the State Department was ready to offer a one-time humanitarian aid of $100,000.

“I refused to accept the money because the sum is not sufficient for a rehabilitation program,” Alexander says. He shows the document signed by Robert Voogt, Ph.D., rehabilitation specialist, who inspected him in Moscow in 2001. The annual costs for the rehabilitation program including physical therapy, nursing care, hospital costs, equipment and medications and other points are estimated at $201,500 per year. “Based on Mr. Kashin’s current age and a life expectancy of 50 years, the total cost without loss of wages or loss of enjoyment of life or pain and suffering would be $10,236,200 over his life time,” the document concludes.

“If the State Department does not agree on the sum, we can hire other experts in Moscow and calculate again,” Alexander says. “If in America a man gets into a car incident with such heavy consequences like mine he will be paid a decent compensation. Why do they think that the life of Russian should cost less than a life of an American? It is humiliation.”

“With the money I could hope for improvement – at least the rehabilitation could make my arms work and I could get used to this life though nobody will return my legs to me,” Alexander shares. “I am sure I will be able to win. Otherwise I will die,” he says.


See related stories at
http://vn.vladnews.ru/issue607/Special_reports/Disabled_man_rejects_100000_US_offer
http://vn.vladnews.ru/issue607/Special_reports/Disabled_Russian_on_hungerstrike_against_US_authorities
http://vn.vladnews.ru/issue531/Crime_watch/Immunity_shelters_former_US_Consul_from_Russian_invalid