The attack on RAS scientist Zezin in Yekaterinburg. What is known

Nikita Zezin, Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Director of the Ural Federal Agrarian Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, died on July 22 at the age of 67. Before that, on July 13, he was brutally beaten right in the parking lot in front of the center. All the details are in the Izvestia article.

Circumstances of the attack

According to investigators, the attack on the scientist took place on July 13. Nikita Zezin, along with his deputy, Alexander Shanin, a veteran of combat operations in Afghanistan, conducted a planned detour of experimental fields in the village of Istok (within Yekaterinburg). There they found five children aged 8-10 years old — they were riding three quad bikes.

The children got stuck in the mud and destroyed experimental crops. The scientists contacted the parents of the minors by phone, offered to take the children to the institute building in an official UAZ and transfer them there.

In the evening, four SUVs drove up to the building of the research center. Athletic men got out of the cars. They started a conflict with the scientists, after which one of the attackers hit Zezin in the face. The men continued to beat the RAN member with their fists and feet.

They also attacked Shanin, including spitting at him. All this happened in front of the children, who, according to eyewitnesses, shouted approving remarks.

Death of a scientist

On the same day, July 13, Zezin contacted the police, where he recorded the fact of beatings and received a referral for a forensic examination. However, nine days after the attack, on July 22, the scientist suffered a heart attack, from which he died in hospital. He was 67 years old.

Relatives and colleagues attribute his death to his injuries and stress. The Investigative Committee (IC) also names a heart disease as the preliminary cause of death, but accurate data will appear after the completion of the investigators' work.

Other versions

On July 29, the press service of the main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk region announced the detention of the main suspect in the beating of a scientist. The media reported that he turned out to be 38-year-old Alexander Reveruk, an entrepreneur from the village of Istok. He is the father of one of the quad bike riding children and co-owner of a wastewater collection and treatment company. It was reported that he had previously been convicted.

However, his wife Svetlana, in a conversation with Izvestia, stated that the man was innocent. According to her version, Zezin died not from a heart attack, but from "chronic urolithiasis." The woman also denies that there was any beating at all.

"No one maimed or beat him," Svetlana emphasized.

According to her, on the day of the tragedy, the children were riding ATVs not far from home and decided to go for peas in the field. The harvest, she claims, was flooded by rains, and there were practically no fruits suitable for food in the beds.

"The men in the Uaz started chasing them, including my son. They cut him off, honked their horns and gased. Because of this, the child had to turn to the right, and he flew into a ditch, almost turned over and got stuck. The men pushed them by the scruff of the neck into the car, grabbed their hands, threatened them with a stick, but did not beat them," Svetlana said.

In addition, she accused Zezin and Shanin of taking the children to another locality, having previously informed them that they would take them to the institute building. In addition, the scientists allegedly prevented minors from contacting their parents, calling them pests and terrorists. Law enforcement agencies have not confirmed this version of events.

The reaction of the authorities

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Hooliganism"). The detainee was charged and placed in a temporary detention facility. Shanin was recognized as a victim.

The United Russia Party appealed to the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, with a request to conduct a federal audit. State Duma deputy Alexander Sidyakin called the death of the scientist "a challenge to society and an example of legal nihilism."

In addition, the Interior Ministry denied information about the untimely response of the police, noting that the squad was sent to the scene immediately. In the near future, the court should determine the measure of restraint for the detainee.