15:37, 10 August 2024Source:
In the city of Zheleznovodsk in Stavropol Krai, 38-year-old Kirill Buzmakov, a native of Ukraine, who was accused of preparing a terrorist attack, died. His death was reported on August 9 by the human rights project OVD-Info and the publication Mediazona . They cited another defendant in the case, former police officer Vladimir Burmay, who left Russia for the United States. The information was confirmed by the wife of another defendant in the case, Nikolai Murnev, Anna Murneva.
According to a copy of the death certificate distributed by human rights activists, Buzmakov died on July 20. The cause of his death is unknown. He was previously diagnosed with cancer, Vladimir Burmay, who corresponded with Buzmakov, told Mediazona.
Kirill Buzmakov and his biker friends Nikolai Murnev and Sergei Dudchenko were arrested in October 2022 in connection with a case of preparing a terrorist attack — according to investigators, they planned to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office in Pyatigorsk. The FSB claimed that the defendants supported Azov . One piece of evidence in the case was the correspondence that the bikers had in a closed Telegram chat for eight people. According to OVD-Info, in this chat, in addition to motorcycles and cars, they discussed the war in Ukraine and criticized the Russian authorities.
During his arrest, Buzmakov’s facial bone was broken. During his detention, the injured area on his face became inflamed, but he was not given medical assistance. Buzmakov wrote to Burmay that he was tortured in the pretrial detention center. “First, they threaten you with violence, in my case, they spread bags in the corner of the office, put you on your knees and started playing with the gun, poking it into the back of my head. At the same time, they said that we essentially don’t need you anymore, they’ve already given up on you,” Buzmakov wrote to Burmay. It is unclear exactly when the conversation took place.
According to Buzmakov, he was beaten when he refused to confirm the testimony written in his name, and his confessions were filmed. Such interrogations lasted for six to seven hours. Other detainees in the case also spoke of torture: Sergei Dudchenko and Nikolai Murnev said they were tortured with electricity.
OVD-Info published some fragments from the correspondence between Buzmakov and Burmay; the period during which they communicated is unknown. “It seems like I’m done for. Oncology, no one is going to treat it, apparently,” Buzmakov wrote in one of the messages. In another, he said that he had not received any help for over a year. According to human rights activists, Buzmakov was told that he would be treated if he gave the necessary testimony.
“At the initial stage it was easy to cure. But you see, they let me rot. They refused to treat me for more than a year, they didn’t even do histology and biopsy ,” Buzmakov wrote.
In May 2024, Kirill Buzmakov was released from pretrial detention to house arrest due to health problems. He underwent surgery in a civilian hospital on May 28. “They cut off my jaw completely. I breathe through a tracheostomy , I eat through a tube. I will most likely live,” Buzmakov said in correspondence.
The case of preparation for a terrorist attack, for which Buzmakov and his friends were accused, is being heard by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don. One of the defendants, Sergei Dudchenko, was sentenced in June in another case — the court sentenced him to seven and a half years in prison on charges of possession of weapons, explosives, and drugs.
(C)MEDUZA 2024