Ukrainian Mathematician Detained While Trying To Leave Russia Dies By Suicide

KEY POINTS

Ukrainian mathematician Konstantin Olmezov died by suicide in Russia on Sunday
He was allegedly detained for more than two weeks after he attempted to leave Russia and return home
Olmezov left a note on his Telegram channel in which he wrote that he had wanted to help defend Ukraine

A Ukrainian mathematician based in Russia's capital Moscow died by suicide over the weekend after he was allegedly prohibited from leaving the country and returning home.

Konstantin Olmezov left a note prior to his suicide Sunday, Russian lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov announced on Telegram on the day of Olmezov's death, according to a report by the Ukrainian state-funded National News Agency of Ukraine (Ukrinform).

The outlet did not disclose details regarding Olmezov's suicide, such as his cause of death.

The mathematician had been living in Russia while working in the field of additive combinatorics, a branch of mathematics that is not researched in his home of Ukraine, according to the Ukrinform report.

Olmezov allegedly attempted to leave Russia after the country invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

He was apprehended at a bus station in Moscow and was later detained as well as remanded in custody for 15 days in what he claimed was a fabricated case of "petty hooliganism" for allegedly violating public order at the station.

"I was trying to get out of here to defend my country, defend it against those who wanted to take it from me," Olmezov was quoted as saying in his suicide note, which was published on a Telegram channel.

The lack of freedom was worse than death, according to the mathematician.

"I feel pain for each party in this war, but I see with my own eyes who is defending their land and who is seizing someone else's. I see with my own eyes who is defending the right to be responsible for their own lives and who is justifying their own degradation... I'm heading into the void. But this void is dearer to me than the reality, where part of the people has rolled back into savagery, while the other part contributes to this," he wrote.

Olmezov was released from the detention facility and received an invitation from the University of Austria, where he could continue his research.

However, he later killed himself "because he couldn't stand the horrors of what's happening," according to attorney Zakhvatov, who described the mathematician as "talented" and "promising."

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.