A Yakutia resident died five hours after his arrest. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is conducting an investigation and insists the cause is "poisoning by an unknown substance."
25-year-old Vladimir Gaidai was detained at a ferry crossing in Yakutsk on October 16. In a video circulating on social media, he showed no resistance; he was first forced into a chair, then forced facedown on the floor, and handcuffed. The officers conducting the arrest appear to be acting politely in the footage.
The detainee's sister, Kristina, says he sent a video of his lunch that day, and was sober. It was common for him to go without texting for long periods of time, as Vladimir worked a lot.
"His partner called and said that Volodya had been taken away by the police. We started looking for him, calling every police station in Yakutsk, calling the pretrial detention center, and then they told us he had died. He was picked up at 17:30 PM, and he died at 20 PM," Kristina says.
Relatives were told that Vladimir died from “poisoning by an unknown substance.”
"They told us his head was completely blue. It's impossible for a sober person to die from poisoning by something unknown," said Olga, SD sister of the Yakutian.
Following the social media outcry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an investigation. сообщилиVladimir had been repeatedly prosecuted, and on October 16, he was detained on suspicion of theft of "two ATVs, firearms, ammunition, and air guns, a stun gun, a smartphone, as well as extortion of approximately 150 doses of narcotics prepared for sale."
When Vladimir became ill, an ambulance was called, but resuscitation was unsuccessful, and doctors declared him dead, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added.
There are no statistics on police violence in Russia. However, according to 2023 data, the number of sudden deaths in police departments and pre-trial detention centers more than tripled More than double the number in 2022. Seventy people died in police detention centers and precincts—the highest number since 2017. In total, at least 1330 people have fallen victim to police violence over the past 15 years, according to Novaya Gazeta.