Russian rocket designer, activist may have been tortured by foreign special service before committing suicide – Limonov

MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) – Alexander Dolmatov, a leading rocket designer and an activist of the unregistered leftist organization The Other Russia, committed suicide in the Netherlands after having been interrogated under torture by Western special services, says The Other Russia leader Eduard Limonov.

“After Sasha Dolmatov’s suicide note was published, it is clear that he was interrogated by Dutch and possibly NATO special services. And it looks like they interrogated him under torture,” Limonov wrote in his LiveJournal blog.

The Other Russia said in a statement on Saturday that both Russian and Dutch authorities are to blame for Dolmatov’s death.

“The Russian and Dutch authorities share responsibility for his death. The former ousted Alexander from the country and the latter killed him. We won’t forget and won’t forgive,” The Other Russia said.

Limonov told Interfax on Friday that he could not rule out lawsuits against Dutch authorities regarding Dolmatov’s death.

An expert from a Russian security service told Interfax on Friday on condition of anonymity that foreign special services could have been involved in Dolmatov’s death.

“An opposition activist and a man possessing rocket secrets is the best target for recruitment for any special service,” he said.

“The note’s contents may be a sign that some foreign special service, not necessarily a Dutch one, tried or managed to recruit Dolmatov,” he said.

“For many people, this is hard to endure not only during the recruitment but also afterwards, when they come to understand what they did,” he said.

Journalist Oleg Kashin posted a scanned copy of Dolmatov’s suicide note on his Twitter on Friday. Kashin said he received the copy from writer Sergei Shargunov, Dolmatov’s friend, who says he read the note together with Dolmatov’s mother.

“Dear Mom! I am leaving so as not to return as a traitor and defame everyone, our whole family. Such things happen, please endure this. I am with you, and I know you will endure. This is the best option. Say in Russia that this was just an accident. What drove me to flee Russia is my laziness and slovenliness over which I failed to study the new laws. I betrayed an honest man, and I betrayed my Homeland’s security. If it is possible, transfer my body to Russia. Russia is stronger than any other country, and it will only be stronger. Living in Russia (illegibly) better than anywhere else,” says Dolmatov’s note available on Kashin’s Twitter.

Dolmatov was a leading designer of a Russian defense company and a suspect in the Bolotnaya Square case. He left for the Netherlands where he applied for political asylum. It emerged on January 17 that he had committed suicide after the Dutch authorities denied political asylum to him. Minister Plenipotentiary Onno Elderenbosch of the Dutch Embassy in Russia told the media that, judging by Dolmatov’s death note to his mother, he had committed suicide not because he had been denied refuge.

Russia earlier demanded that the Dutch government urgently investigate Dolmatov’s death in that country. “The moment the news arrived, the Russian Embassy urged the Dutch authorities to start an urgent and exhaustive inquiry,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website on Friday.