‘I’m afraid I won’t make it to 15 June’

Irina Gak, Anatoly Berezikov’s lawyer, was the first person to report the activist dead. She says she arrived at the jail on 14 June to arrange a meeting with a civil law notary for her client and validate a letter of authorisation. Gak was not allowed inside the building for a long time, and then she was told Berezikov was dead.

The woman says that she last saw Berezikov on 13 June and noticed he had stun gun bruises. “As he spoke to me, he complained he had been threatened, and he was afraid they could kill him,” Irina Gak says as she reveals the details of his case to the public.

Anatoly Berezikov was detained in Rostov-on-Don on 10 May in his apartment. In his explanatory report, he wrote that someone knocked on his door early in the morning, posing as his neighbour, and then his apartment door was knocked down by armed men in balaclavas.

“Without any explanation, they started kicking me. It all happened in my room. Then they dragged me to the kitchen and started an interrogation while still beating me up,” reads Berezikov’s explanatory report that was later published by his lawyer.

Berezikov’s lawyer and Tatyana Sporysheva, a local activist and his public defender, say they are still unaware of what the police demanded from the man. During his brief meetings with Irina Gak, Berezikov informed her that he had been threatened with a life sentence, torture, and rape. One of the demands was to waive his right to counsel.

Allegedly, Anatoly is suspected of being involved in spreading leaflets of the Ukrainian I Want to Live movement around the city. The leaflets contained instructions for Russian servicemen on how to correctly surrender to the Ukrainian military.

“A relative of his told me that she had called the jail several times after his detention, but each time she had been told Berezikov was not there,” the lawyer says.

The man only found out why he had been detained during his court session. He was put into a jail for minor offenders for 10 days for failing to obey a police officer, and was sentenced to another short jail term just as his previous arrest expired. During this second term, Anatoly managed to get in touch with his family who hired Irina Gak, a private attorney.

“He told his lawyer that an FSB officer had visited him in his cell. The FSB man told Berezikov this was his last minor term, and that he was facing criminal prosecution and a life sentence,” Tatyana Sporysheva says.

OVD-Info managed to contact Anatoly’s mother who said that her son could have provided false testimony against himself, that he had developmental disabilities, and that he was home-schooled as a child.

Tatyana Sporysheva says that she and Anatoly’s lawyer came to meet the activist at the jail as his second sentence ended on 31 May. They were afraid he could have been taken into custody once more. This is exactly what happened. As the two women were guarding the main entrance, the police escorted Anatoly through the back door, forced him into a police car, and drove off.

“We followed them and soon stopped near a police station. The lawyer went inside to look for her client, but she was told Berezikov was not there,” Sporysheva recalls. “As I stayed outside, I saw a man wearing plain clothes, accompanied by two women. I saw this man earlier near the jail. From what I heard, I think he is with the FSB.”

The two later met the alleged “FSB officer” in the courthouse where Anatoly Berezikov eventually ended up and was sent to jail for the third time. “The man wearing plain clothes” was again accompanied by the same two women, Tatyana says.

When Anatoly was brought to the courthouse, he appeared completely down and disconnected. Tatyana believes that this was due to the torture.

“He was extremely pale. Just like a rag doll. He had no reaction to anything. His hands were limp, and his fingers barely moved. I had to write the application form (requesting the lawyer to see the case file — author’s note) for him,” Sporysheva recalls. “He took a long time to comprehend what I said to him before he signed the application.”

As the two women read the case file, they found out that Berezikov had “committed” his third minor offence on 31 May just as he exited the jail.

“The case file claimed that as he went outside at 15:50, he started yelling profanities and assaulting passers-by. The two women we saw in front of the jail with the alleged FSB officer acted as witnesses in court,” Sporysheva says.

Irina Gak believes that her client was tortured at the police station during the several hours that she was looking for him. She managed to take a photo of Berezikov’s back in the courthouse: the lawyer believes there were stun gun bruises on it.

“He told me in the courthouse: I won’t make it to 15 June. I’m afraid they’ll kill me. I won’t make it out of jail,” Tatyana Sporysheva recalls.

Berezikov was sentenced to his third jail term, scheduled to expire on 15 June. Just like he said, he didn’t make it to the end of his term.

Irina Gak says Anatoly seemed fine on 13 June when he asked her to inform the media of his case. The next day, he was dead.

Berezikov was known as a creative person in Rostov-on-Don; he was into music, performing as a DJ under the nickname of Anatoly Ryk. His acquaintances say the man earned his living by repairing household appliances. Sometimes he would shock the locals with his appearance, riding around the snowy winter streets of the city wearing nothing but his boxers and a Santa Claus hat.

“This is Ryk, also known by his real name Anatoly Berezikov. A musician, a constructor of noise synthesisers, a painter and a wayfarer. He is no longer with us. I bet he wouldn’t like someone to pray for the repose of his soul. But it’s not up to him anymore,” Valentin Sokhorev, a musician and the creator of the Medved Shatun project, wrote on his social media.