The death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a remote Arctic prison last week has dominated headlines and put a spotlight on the brutality of Russias penitentiary system.The United States State Department in its 2022 Human Rights Practices report described conditions in Russias prisons as harsh and life-threatening, noting that inmates are systematically abused by prison guards and political prisoners are generally placed in particularly harsh conditions and subjected to punitive treatment.Navalny though arguably the most famous is not the first activist to have died while held in this system, which has often been compared by observers to its infamous predecessor, the Soviet gulag camp system.The Moscow Times has compiled the stories of five high-profile prisoners who died in Russian detention over the years:Sergei MagnitskyLawyer Sergei Magnitsky passed away in Moscows notorious Matrosskaya Tishina (Seaman's Silence) prison in November 2009.Magnitsky was jailed after exposing a multi-billion-ruble corruption scheme waged by a group of senior Interior Ministry officers who fraudulently took over several companies owned by the lawyers client, the U.K.-based investment firm Hermitage Capital Management.Sergei Magnitsky.Hermitage Capital / VOA The whistleblower was denied medical treatment throughout the yearlong imprisonment, most of which he spent at another infamous Moscow prison, Butyrka.Russian officials listed toxic shock and heart failure brought on by pancreatitis as the official causes of Magnitskys death.
Human rights defenders maintained that the lawyer was not only denied treatment for life-threatening medical conditions but also severely beaten right before his death.Magnitskys death in custody sparked global outcry and prompted Hermitage Capitals CEO Bill Browder to wage the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, seeking to impose targeted sanctions and visa bans on officials incriminated in his lawyers death.The so-called Magnitsky legislation has since been passed by several states and territories, including the United States , U.K., Canada and the European Union.In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights found Russia guilty of violating Magnitskys rights to life, liberty and security, while also confirming that the lawyer was ill-treated shortly before dying.Dmitry KolkerSpectral imaging scientist Dmitry Kolker was arrested on suspicion of treason on June 30, 2022, at a hospital in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk where he was undergoing treatment for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.Kolker was transported straight from the hospital to Moscows notorious Lefortovo prison.
The scientist died in custody two days later at age 54.Kolker, Ph.D., headed Novosibirsk State Universitys quantum optical technologies laboratory and was known to have given lectures at a Chinese university.Dmitry Kolker.Dmitry Kolker / FacebookRussian authorities accused the scientist of sharing state secrets with China, according to his son.There was an FSB officer with him everywhere who flew with him to China, forbidding him to speak in English and to give the lecture in English, Maxim Kolker told the Siberia-based news outlet Tayga.info, referring to a Federal Security Service operative.Dzhemil GafarovCrimean Tatar activist Dzhemil Gafarov, 60, died in a detention center in Russias southern city of Novocherkassk on Feb.
10, 2023.Gafarov was one of 25 activists arrested by Russian law enforcement in March 2019 in what human rights defenders deemed as one of the largest waves of repressions against Crimean Tatars since Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014.The activists most of whom were members of the Crimean Solidarity human rights group were detained over alleged links with Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international pan-Islamist political organization outlawed in Russia.In January 2023, a court in Rostov-on-Don convicted Gafarov of participating in activities of a terrorist organization and preparing for a violent seizure of power and sentenced him to 13 years in prison.Dzhemil Gafarov.Crimean solidarity / crimeahrg.orgGafarov was recognized as a political prisoner by Memorial human rights group, which maintains that all charges against him were not supported by any real evidence.Gafarov, who was diagnosed with kidney failure and survived a heart attack in November 2022, was repeatedly denied the medical care and meetings with his lawyer that he requested, human rights defenders say.Russias Investigative Committee refused to open an inquiry into Gafarovs death.Anatoly BerezikovAnatoly Berezikov, a 40-year-old DJ and ex-volunteer with Alexei Navalnys Rostov region headquarters, died in a detention center in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 14, 2023.Berezikov was first arrested on May 11, 2023, on charges of disobeying police and sentenced to 10 days in detention.
Upon his release from the detention center on May 21, he was arrested again for allegedly harassing pedestrians and resisting the police.Berezikov denied all charges against him.Despite efforts of his lawyer and local activists, Berezikov was rearrested for the third time when exiting a detention facility on May 31.Anatoly Berezikov.Anatoly Berezikov / FacebookHuman rights advocates believe Russian authorities intended to charge Berezikov with treason for his anti-war activism and accuse them of using the multiple arrests as a ploy to pressure him into pleading guilty without a lawyer.The authorities claim that Berezikov committed suicide while in detention, but his lawyer Irina Gak maintains her client may have been killed during torture.
Gak said that she recorded traces of electric shock torture on Berezikovs body when visiting him the day before his death.Following his funeral, FSB officers searched the homes of lawyer Gak and human rights defender Tatyana Sporysheva, who also worked on the activists case.
Both women were forced to flee the country.Rifat DautovRifat Dautov, 37, died on Jan.
25 shortly after he was arrested by security forces in his native Bashkortostan over alleged participation in last months mass demonstrations in support of jailed Bashkir activist Fayil Alsynov.Dautovs sister Zaliya Akhmadieva told journalists that police detained her brother in the village of Novye Chebenki in southwestern Bashkortostan.
The following day, his parents were contacted by a coroner to identify his body.Rifat Dautov.t.me/aspectyBashkir authorities claim Dautov died from a heart attack caused by heavy intoxication.
His sister however insists that he did not drink alcohol as a devout Muslim, nor did he take part in the protests in support of Alsynov.Human rights defenders have called on the government of Bashkortostan to investigate the circumstances of Dautovs death.A few weeks after Dautovs death, activists in Bashkortostan confirmed the passing of 65-year-old Minniyar Bayguskarov, another local man who faced criminal investigation over the mass protests.
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