Russian asylum seeker dies in detention in Estonia
The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) is working to establish the circumstances of the death at a detention center near Talllinn of a Russian citizen who had claimed international protection in Estonia, after being sentenced to a lengthy penal term in the Russian Federation, daily Postimees reports.
The PPA on May 31 confirmed to Postimees' Russian-language portal the death a foreign national, saying the body of a male, who the paper named as Anton Meleshko and who had reportedly taken his own life on May 22, was being handed over for an autopsy, while confidentiality arising from international protection means the PPA cannot comment further.
The detention facility's chief elaborated further, telling Postimees that staff had on the date in question tried to prevent a 40-year-old male from absconding by climbing over the fence surrounding the center, subsequently placing him in solitary confinement – while Polish publication Vot Tak also reported that the individual took his own life on the day his application for international protection was turned down.
Postimees reported the deceased had been hit with charges of sexual violence in Russia and had asked Estonia for international protection after arriving illegally in 2022, using his brother's passport, accompanied by a partner, and since then he had been staying in a detention facility near Tallinn.
The man had originally been sentenced to 2.5 years in a settlement colony which inmates can temporarily leave, while a second verdict upped this to a nine-year sentence at a labor camp in the Altai region.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Postimees
