Victor Skormin, the Binghamton University engineering professor currently facing trial overseas, said that if he remains in Kazakhstan, it is only a matter of time until his only kidney fails again.

A distinguished professor at BU, Skormin ran out of medication for his diabetes and high blood pressure shortly after being detained and charged with currency smuggling. Skormin was stopped by Kazkh customs authorities on Sept. 29 with $14,221 in American currency while on his way out of the country. The professor was abroad meeting with Kazkh professors at different universities and recruiting students for BU’s graduate school. He had expected to be in the country for only three weeks.

Skormin checked himself into a clinic on Oct. 17, when he said his feet began to swell. According to Skormin, one of the medications he purchased in the country turned out to be counterfeit.

“I do not have the right medications here,” Skormin said.

While Skormin said he currently felt better than he had over the weekend, he said it was only a matter time until his kidney fails again because of poor health care in the country. Skormin said that treatments available to him in Kazakhstan would not be able to help.

Jim Moronski, an adjunct lecturer at BU, said he had been working nonstop to try and get Skormin’s medication to the ailing professor overseas and bring him home.

“To our knowledge, he cannot get reliable medication there,” Moronski said. “And right now we can’t get his medication to him.”

According to BU spokeswoman Gail Glover, the University is also concerned with Skormin’s health and well-being. Glover said that BU has connected with Skormin’s local physicians to facilitate the transfer of his medical records to Kazakhstan.

Spokespeople from both Sens. Schumer and Clinton’s respective offices also relayed their concern for Skormin’s health.

“We are working with the State Department to make sure that he receives proper medical care and due process,” Deirdre Murphy, a spokeswoman for Sen. Schumer, said.

Eric Bederman, a spokesman for Sen. Clinton’s office, said members of Clinton’s staff have been in touch with BU to get all of the details surrounding the circumstances of Skormin’s detainment. According to Bederman, Clinton’s office has also contacted the State Department.

Calls made to the State Department were not immediately returned.

However, Skormin said that he doesn’t think his health should be the state’s or University’s only concern. He said he feared that, if action wasn’t taken soon, he could be stuck in Kazakhstan indefinitely.

“There is only one way they will take me out of the country,” Skormin said. “That is if I’m dying. But I don’t want to die — I want to live.”

A hearing for Skormin was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. this morning in Kazakhstan, which was 11:30 p.m. last night in eastern standard time.

Both Moronski and Skormin said that, even if the court rules in his favor, Skormin could be kept in the country longer due to its appeal laws. The court system in Kazakhstan allows the prosecutors up to two weeks after the verdict to file an appeal.

Skormin said the appeals process could then take months.

While happy with the letter of recommendation about Skormin that BU President Lois B. DeFleur sent to the judge, Moronski and Skormin said they thought there was more that could be done.

“The absurdity of this situation is so painful to me,” Skormin said. “Nobody questions that I earned the money I was carrying.”

According to Skormin, he hadn’t filled out the correct paperwork at the customs station because he thought he was standing at a passport station. Skormin said that no one corrected him until it was too late.

The professor attributed his arrest to a corrupt customs system in the country, run by a former general in the KGB, Russia’s former intelligence agency. Skormin said his current situation reminded him of his life in the Soviet Union before moving to the United States.

“I was detained because I refused to pay a bribe,” he said.

Skormin said he believed that he could already be home if the administration or state government called the Kazakhstan government on his behalf.

Moronski has set up a Web site, bringvictorhome.com, to keep track of and inform people about Skormin’s situation.

“I don’t want anything covered up or hidden,” he said.

Moronski, a longtime friend of Skormin’s, stressed that he had no intention of attacking the University’s administration.

“I know it’s causing a stink on campus,” he said. “But I want Victor back more than anything.”