Jimmy Wilgus

Jimmy Wilgus

Jimmy is being wrongfully detained in a Russian prison since 2016! Hello, my name is James L. Wilgus. My only son is an accomplished musician and song writer. He was working in Moscow, Russia, since 2014 scoring music for motion pictures He was also building a recording studio in Moscow with Russian investors, to record and teach Russian musicians how to create and perform western-style music. On November 7, 2016, he was arrested outside his apartment where he lived with his wife. He was originally charged with indecent exposure due to an unintentional event. He was coerced into signing a confession in Russian and the translator lied to him regarding its true contents. By the time the prosecutor, judge, and his Russian attorney concluded a closed-door trial, he was sentenced to 12.5 years in the notorious Mordovia Labor Camp IK-17, which is filled with the most notorious criminals in Russia. To protect his safety, my wife and I hired a local attorney to visit Jimmy at least once a month. In 2021 the warden attempted to plant drugs in a package sent to Jimmy. Fortunately, the attorney was able to prove Jimmy's innocence. However, as punishment for bringing in a lawyer, the warden kept Jimmy in solitary confinement for 4 months. In addition, Jimmy suffered a stroke in 2022. The doctors prescribed an MRI, but the prison hospital does not have this equipment. The warden refused to send Jimmy to a local hospital for this procedure. We had the lawyer go to court to order the warden to send Jimmy for an MRI, but the warden ignored the court order. The judge did not enforce the order. To this date Jimmy has never had an MRI. He suffers from dizzy spells, headaches and has contracted high blood pressure. We tried to get a local cardiologist to visit Jimmy, but no one will go to the prison. Since the Ukraine War, conditions at the prison have worsened. No doctor will visit Jimmy, and the local attorney requested that we no longer communicate with him. After 6 years in prison, Jimmy needed a filling replaced in his tooth. The prison does not offer such services, so we had to pay a local dentist in Mordovia to visit the prison to repair Jimmy's tooth. The prison allowed it only because it was an emergency situation and Jimmy was in pain. Everyone in Russia lives in fear of being arrested for communicating with the enemy, the Americans. Details and updates can be found on our website, FREEJIMMYWILGUS.COM. There are constant expenses to pay, Jimmy's phone calls to his family in the U.S., nourishing foods must be sent to him every 3 months to provide supplemental foods and vitamins to maintain his health, expenses for materials to constantly stay in touch with U.S. officials to negotiate his freedom, assistance in paying a judgement against him by the Russian Federation in the amount of 500,000 rubles, court fees and fines, etc. These are ongoing expenses which will be required for the remaining 6 years of his sentence. We hope you will support Jimmy's ordeal and help us finance all the expenses he has accrued. He and his wife are broke. His mother and I are retired octogenarians and do the best we can.