During his trial, Anatoly Berezikov, a Russian anti-war activist, repeated that he was afraid of “disappearing”. Two weeks later, on June 14, 2023, he was found dead in his prison in Rostov-on-Don, in southwestern Russia.
Anatoly Berezikov is, officially, the first Russian opponent of the conflict in Ukraine to die in detention since the offensive. The circumstances of his death remain unclear. Reason given by the authorities: suicide.
But his supporters, themselves persecuted by the security services, reject this version. They claim that he suffered torture, recurrent in the Russian justice system, which may have led to his death.
“People can be suppressed without trial or investigation. They can abduct you, imprison you, search you, intimidate you, torture you and kill you,” Tatiana Sporycheva, a human rights activist who helped Anatoly Berezikov, told AFP.
In Rostov-on-Don, this 40-year-old man with a beard and long blond hair had a reputation as a merry nonconformist, passionate about experimental music and firmly anti-Putin.
Like him, thousands of anonymous people who expressed their opposition to the conflict suffered in Russia the repression of power made of threats, violence, thousands of fines and prison sentences.