Russian artist arrested for online comment dies by suicide in pre-trial detention

Photo: RusNews on Telegram

A Russian artist died by suicide in a detention centre less than a week after he was arrested for a social media comment, his close friend has confirmed.

Andrey Akuzin, 53, was found hanged in his cell at a detention facility in the Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Film director Tatyana Frolova, a France-based friend of Akuzin's, confirmed his death to independent outlet Mediazona.

Akuzin was arrested on 2 April over a comment he had posted online in 2025. Frolova said he had been flagged by a Telegram bot that analyses users' public activity for signs of interest in "protest" content and the left-wing nationalist movement Artpodgotovka, which is banned in Russia.

"He's no terrorist — it's just absurd,” Frolova said. "He simply didn't want to stay silent. Formally, they picked him up over some like or a reply to someone's post."

Akuzin's 53rd birthday was on 7 April. According to Frolova, who spoke with people who knew him in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, he died the following day. He had no lawyer, she said. On 10 April — two days after his death — Akuzin was posthumously added to Russia's official list of “terrorists and extremists”.

Frolova said that Akuzin had repeatedly said to her that "the only free form of protest left today is suicide."

A well-known figure in Komsomolsk-on-Amur's art scene, Akuzin held a solo exhibition in the city in the 2000s that drew on his interest in Zen Buddhism. He later worked as a production designer at a local drama theater.