Member of the Other Russia coalition died in custody

Oppositionist and member of the Other Russia coalition Rim Shaigalimov, convicted last year of attacking police officers during the May 9 demonstration, died in the Krasnoyarsk maximum security colony. According to the regional GUFSIN, he committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of the colony dormitory. Relatives and associates of Mr. Shaigalimov express a version of his violent death and intend to seek an independent examination.

Yesterday, the investigative department of the Investigative Committee at the Russian Prosecutor's Office for the Krasnoyarsk Territory officially confirmed information about the death of 52-year-old Rim Shaigalimov in the maximum security colony IK-5 (the village of Startsevo, Krasnoyarsk Territory). According to the assistant to the head of the regional investigative department, Alina Shcherbakova, on the afternoon of June 26, Mr. Shaigalimov jumped from the fourth floor of the colony dormitory and fell to his death. “The circumstances of the death of the prisoner are being clarified. A pre-investigation check is being carried out,” explained Mrs. Shcherbakova.

The press service of the GUFSIN clarified that the tragedy was recorded by a video surveillance system. "The prisoner jumped out of the room where educational work was being carried out with convicts, so the windows there were without bars. Most likely, it was a suicide attempt or a demonstrative attempt to attract attention to himself. Perhaps he did not calculate how it would end. The video surveillance system recorded that he walked up to the window, looked down, walked away, ran and jumped, knocking out the window frame with his body. This was done in a matter of minutes,” said Ekaterina Brotsman, head of the press service of the regional GUFSIN. At the same time, the GUFSIN could not explain whether anyone was near Mr. Shaigalimov at that moment or not.

Krasnoyarsk oppositionist, member of the “Other Russia” coalition, deputy of the National Assembly of the Russian Federation of the first convocation Rim Shaigalimov was known for his shocking behavior. In 2006, he walked around Krasnoyarsk with a poster and mourned the “death of the governor”; he held a one-man rally against paid education, trying to stage a hanging on a pedestrian bridge near the opera house. Last May, Rim Shaigalimov came to the “March of Dissent” dressed as Father Frost. Twice clashes between the oppositionist and the police ended in imprisonment for him. On October 16, 2006, Rim Shaigalimov was sentenced to six months in a penal colony for attacking government officials (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). As the court found, Mr. Shaigalimov broke into the building of the Central District Department of Internal Affairs of Krasnoyarsk and beat three operatives. Then, on October 30 last year, he was sentenced under the same article to five years and six months in a maximum security colony. According to investigators, during a festive rally on May 9 last year, he attacked the head of the Krasnoyarsk public security police, Sergei Suvorov, hitting him with a flag pole. During the escort, the detained Shaigalimov, according to the case materials, attacked the policemen accompanying him. After the trial, The Other Russia declared him a political prisoner.

Mr. Shaigalimov’s associates are sure that he could not take his own life. “What kind of colony is this with an open window? This is murder, without any doubt,” says Andrei Skovorodnikov, chairman of the “Other Russia” coalition in Krasnoyarsk. He added that relatives of Rim Shaigalimov will insist on an independent examination to determine the cause of his death. “It is not possible that such a person, very strong and convinced, could commit suicide,” one of the leaders of The Other Russia, Eduard Limonov, told reporters.

As Andrei Skovorodnikov reported, Mr. Shaigalimov’s widow, Lyudmila, told him that her husband died not on Saturday, but much earlier. “According to her, there were requests to Moscow, and one of the last received information that supposedly in this colony (IK-5. - Kommersant ) there is no such prisoner as Rim Shaigalimov. In fact, it is not clear how many he’s not alive since February, because we haven’t received any letters from him since February,” noted Andrei Skovorodnikov.

According to the investigative department for the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the pre-investigation investigation into the death of Rim Shaigalimov will take ten days. Based on its results, a decision will be made whether to initiate a criminal case or not.

Nonna Kommersant-Goncharenko, Krasnoyarsk

Oppositionist thrown out of prison