A Novosibirsk scientist who was detained on June 30 on suspicion of treason has died, Russian media reported on July 3.
Lawyer Aleksandr Fedulov, who was representing physicist Dmitry Kolker, 54, told Reuters that the scientist died on July 2.
“He died yesterday,” Fedulov said. “Tomorrow we will lodge a complaint over his detention.”
Kolker’s daughter confirmed that his family had received a telegram informing them that Kolker had died but added that the message contained so little information that the family cannot confirm his passing.
“My brother at first posted the information on VK, but I asked him to take it down,” she told the Sibermedia Telegram channel. “We need to get confirmation.”
Kolker, who was being treated for late-stage pancreatic cancer at a Novosibirsk clinic when he was arrested, was accused of passing state secrets to China. A Moscow court on July 2 ordered him held in custody for two months pending the investigation, which was being conducted by the Federal Security Service.
Kolker’s son, Dmitry, told journalists at the time of his father’s arrest that Kolker was unable to eat on his own and was being fed intravenously at the Novosibirsk clinic.
Kolker, who holds numerous patents and headed the Laboratory of Quantum Optics at Novosibirsk State University, had given lectures at Chinese universities.
Another scientist with the Institute of Theoretical and Practical Mechanics of the Siberian Academy of Sciences, 75-year-old Anatoly Maslov, was also detained in connection with the case.
He is reportedly being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison.
Over the past five years, at least 12 employees of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been targeted in criminal investigations.