A pianist imprisoned after criticizing the attack on Ukraine died in a Russian prison, non-governmental organizations and his relatives announced.
A graduate of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, one of the best music schools, he has been a Philharmonic soloist in the small town of Birobidzhan, near the border with China, since 2023.
It is not known when Pavel Kušnir (39) died in the prison there. His death was not officially announced, and the prison administration did not want to answer AFP's questions.
According to the Vok Tak media, since November 2022, the pianist published four videos on YouTube, where only a few dozen people followed him, criticizing the Kremlin and the invasion of Ukraine.
In May, the Telegram from the Birobidzhan region reported that he had been arrested on charges of "inciting terrorism," a crime punishable by severe punishment in Russia, and that arrest was not officially announced either.
In Russia, repression is carried out against anyone who questions or opposes official policy.
"We received letters from the prisoners who were with him, there is no doubt that he died," Olga Romanova, who is in charge of exile in the non-governmental organization that defends Russian prisoners, told the Current Times media on Saturday.
She stated that Kušnir died during a hunger strike.
Pavel Kušnir's friend Olga Škrigunova confirmed to the Russian media Vot Tak that his mother informed her of his death, apparently at the end of July.
Today, the team of the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February of this year, announced on the X network a call for donations to bring the pianist's body to his hometown, Tambov.
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