Russian TV production designer dies in Moscow hospital after arrest on treason charges
Alexander Kondratov, the production designer for the Russian TV series Likvidatsiya (Liquidation”), has died at Botkin Hospital in Moscow after being arrested on treason charges, the Russian human rights group Department One said.
Kondratov, 52, was taken to the hospital from a pretrial detention center on October 23, human rights activists said. Department One did not specify the cause of death or the source of that information.
Kondratov was born and raised in Moscow but had lived in Kyiv since 2012. He had traveled to Russia to renew his foreign passport and was detained at Vnukovo Airport. After a series of so-called “carousel arrests,” authorities opened a criminal case against him on treason charges. The case was based on “at least six publications” posted online. Their contents remain unknown.
“Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”
The detective series Likvidatsiya premiered in 2007 and follows criminal investigators fighting crime in postwar Odesa in 1946. The cast includes Vladimir Mashkov, Mikhail Porechenkov, Sergei Makovetsky, and Konstantin Lavronenko. Kondratov received the Golden Eagle Award and a TEFI Award for his work on the show.
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