• Persecution of Activists  Protest Activity 

The mother of Aleksandr Dolmatov, a political refugee from Russia who died last week in a Dutch deportation prison, has written a letter to the Queen of the Netherlands requesting her help in investigating the death of her son. 

The letter was passed on to a secretary of the Netherlands embassy in Moscow by Dmitry Nechaev, a friend of Dolmatov and his mother’s authorised representative, Eduard Limonov wrote in his blog. 

Liudmila Doronina is asking that the Dutch side reply to her questions regarding the circumstances surrounding her son's death and the body’s transportation back to Russia, as well as conduct a full and independent investigation into what happened, Ridus.ru reports. 

"At the moment, I am only finding out about the fate of my son through the media. Nobody from the Dutch side has met with me yet to answer my questions. I have a number of them. First and foremost, I have the right to know how my son died. 

According to information from the Russian consulate, my son's body might not be brought back to Russia for another week, maybe two. As yet, the Russian consulate does not even have information regarding where my son's body is right now. 

"I would like a full investigation to be carried out into what happened to Aleksandr. I am asking you for an independent investigation", Liudmila writes in her letter. 

Aleksandr Dolmatov travelled to the Netherlands in the summer of 2012 after ending up in the investigative authorities' field of vision during rioting on 6 May on Bolotnaya Ploshchad. His apartment was searched the day before he left. 

Consequently, the Netherlands authorities refused to grant the Russian political asylum and sent him to a deportation camp in Rotterdam, where he committed suicide on 17 January 2013.