Viktor Demchenko thought to have died in pretrial detention (representative)
Moscow:
A 71-year-old Ukrainian man died in Russia in December while awaiting trial for espionage and other crimes, rights group Memorial said on Sunday, citing court documents.
Nearly two years ago, the Kremlin launched a so-called special military operation in which several Ukrainian citizens were accused by Russia of espionage.
The memorial said little information was available about Viktor Demchenko, who is believed to have died in a pretrial detention center in the southern region of Rostov. In August, his case was sent to a military court in Rostov-on-Don.
TASS said the court had closed the case due to the death of Demchenko, who was also charged with participating in a “terrorist organization” and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
The report quoted law enforcement officials as saying that he died on December 31 due to an earlier stroke.
It is unclear why information about Demchenko’s death took several weeks to emerge.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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