Tonight one of the telegram channels reported the sad news. Ildar Dadin was killed in the fighting near Kharkiv.

Ildar's fate touched me only tangentially, but I took his death personally.

Ildar Dadin was the first person to be convicted in Russia under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code - ‘repeated violation of the established order for organising or holding a rally’. This article later received the unofficial name ‘Dadin's’.

In December 2015, Dadin was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

In September 2016, Ildar was sent to serve his sentence in a penal colony in Karelia.

Apparently due to an innate craving for the truth, such a one will not keep silent, Ildar had bad relations with the colony's management. In the zone he was repeatedly tortured and tormented by the colony staff.

Ildar miraculously managed to pass a letter to his wife through his lawyer, in which he told about the torture in the colony.  

The letter was published in the media and attracted public attention and the leadership of the FSIN (Federal Penal Enforcement Service) decided to transfer Dadin to one of the colonies in the Altai region.

Ildar's stage was difficult and lasted almost 1 month. When a prisoner is on the stage, relatives are not informed where he is and how he is. Therefore, relatives, friends and the public were very worried about Ildar.

Ildar's wife Anastasia Zotova wrote me a letter on Facebook on 26 December 2016: ‘...Help me find out if Ildar was really sent to Altai Krai!’.

At that time, I had already resigned, not only as chairman of the Public Supervisory Commission (PSC) of Altai Krai, but also as a member of the commission.

During the eight years that I had been chairman of the POC, I had done a lot of ‘bloodshed’ for the prison guards in Altai. Once the head of the Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for Altai Krai, Alexei Kulik, said: ‘Ilyich, they (FSIN) fear you more than the prosecutor.’

Therefore, in this situation, it would be naive to expect that the FSIN would make an exception for the ex-chairman of the Altai Krai DNC and truthfully inform about Ildar Dadin.

Nevertheless, from other sources we managed to get information about the date of Ildar's arrival to the correctional colony No. 5 (IK-5) in Rubtsovsk. Rubtsovsk.

Fortunately, at that time the ONC of Altai Krai had members who were not affiliated with the security forces: Alexei Belous, Vyacheslav Filippov, Vyacheslav Berishev, Nina Saybert, Oleg Karsakov and Olga Fotieva.

They promptly travelled to Ildar's colony and then, despite the distance (300 km from Barnaul to Rubtsovsk) visited the colony several times. The JNC members gave moral support to Ildar and monitored the observance of his rights.

It was flattering that after his release from the colony Ildar Dadin, in an interview with journalists, spoke favourably about the conditions in Rubtsovsk penal colony-5.

This was also an assessment of our labour, members of the PMC since 2008.

Unfortunately, as of 2019, human rights defenders are no longer represented in the ONC of Altai Krai.

After Ildar's release from the colony, I still saw mention of him in the media for some time, but the more time passed since his release, the less often his name was mentioned.

Being already in exile I once heard a short interview with him as a volunteer of the Siberian battalion fighting on the side of Ukraine. I did not expect anything else from him. People like him always fight on the bright side.

In my mind Ildar's image is something similar to the image of my fellow countryman Vasily Shukshin, the same stubborn truth-seeker.

Vasily Shukshin made many wonderful films, including the film ‘There Lives Such a Guy’.

Ildar Dadin was only 42 years old on 14 April.

I would like to express my condolences to Ildar Dadin's family and friends.

May another hero and truth-seeker rest in peace. 

 6 October 2024

Alexander Goncharenko, Chairman of the Altai Territory ONC (2008-2016), Russian political emigrant