Liquidation art director Kondratov dies after treason charge

Alexander Kondratov, production designer of the TV series “Liquidation,” has died at Moscow’s Botkin Hospital. A critic of the Kremlin, he was awaiting trial on a treason charge and had been moved to the hospital from a pretrial detention center shortly before his death. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

What is known about his death

According to the human rights group First Department, Kondratov was hospitalized last Friday because of unspecified health problems. The authorities announced his death only on Monday. The artist was 52.

A doctor told his lawyer that the cause of death was a type 2 myocardial infarction. However, the lawyer was not allowed to examine the body or see the medical records, so the circumstances of the death remain unexplained.

Why he was prosecuted

Russian authorities charged Kondratov with treason on Aug. 5. According to his lawyer, Natalya Tikhonova, the charge was based on at least six posts he published online. The authorities have not disclosed the content of the posts.

Earlier, he had spent more than 70 days behind bars after repeated detentions on hooliganism charges. In Russia, treason carries up to life imprisonment for men and 20 years for women.

Kondratov was born and raised in Moscow but moved to Kyiv in 2012, where his family now lives. He was detained on May 5 at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, where he had flown in to renew his foreign passport. He became known for his work as production designer and set designer on the 2007 historical detective series “Liquidation,” set in postwar Soviet Union. For it he received two major Russian television and film awards: the TEFI and the Golden Eagle.

According to First Department, his death is at least the eleventh known case this year of a person facing widely criticized, politically motivated charges dying in a Russian prison or in custody.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz