In two years of war, Alexander Demidenko is reputed to have helped some 900 Ukrainian refugees return home. Now it’s his family’s turn to solicit help on the internet – to pay for his funeral. The 61-year-old died in prison on Friday, April 5, but his lawyer only learned of his death three days later, when he visited him. The Russian prison administration called it suicide.
Demidenko was a well-known volunteer in the city of Belgorod, on the Ukraine border, and a vocal opponent of the “special military operation” launched by Vladimir Putin in February 2022. He welcomed families driven out by the fighting into his home, before guiding them to the Kolotilovka-Pokrovka border crossing, the only one open between Russia and Ukraine, where Ukrainian nationals wishing to leave Russia are subject to the goodwill of the Federal Security Service (FSB), which considers such a move to be highly suspicious.
On October 17, 2023, Demidenko was arrested on the outskirts of this crossing point, carrying a stretcher for a sick refugee. Demidenko initially disappeared for three days, before being formally charged and remanded in custody for public consumption of alcohol. Ten days later, during a search of his home in his presence, his wife noticed – and photographed – signs of torture, starting with a bruised back and ribs.
Relentlessly targetted
This was the last time his family was able to see him. Since October, he had been deprived of visitors and books, one of the pressure tactics used against defendants in Russia. He had subsequently been charged with illegal possession of explosives – according to him and his wife, a World War II grenade found in their garden.
Those close to Demidenko explain why he was relentlessly targeted not only for his outspoken opposition to the war, but also because his activities were getting in the way of racketeering and corruption at the Kolotilovka-Pokrovka border crossing. But Demidenko was not the only volunteer involved in supporting refugees. Some networks helping Ukrainians to leave Russia, or to survive there, now have to operate underground.
In Belgorod itself, another well-known volunteer, 28-year-old Nadine Geissler, was arrested on February 1, accused of “appeals to extremism.” Among other known means of pressure used against her, the young woman receives 30 liters of water from mysterious donors at the beginning of each month, preventing her from receiving any other parcel. She too has said she fears for her life.
In the case of Demidenko, his son Oleg confirmed that he had heard his father complain of torture on several occasions over the telephone. In March, he was transferred to hospital. However, his son did not rule out the possibility that the suicide explanation may be true: “For a free man like him, the thought of confinement was intolerable,” he wrote on Telegram, referring to high treason proceedings in the pipeline.
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