A Russian physicist arrested in Siberia on suspicion of treason has died after just a few days in custody, his family and lawyer said. Dmitry Kolker, 54, diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, was taken from his hospital bed in Novosibirsk on Thursday by Federal Security Service officers who put him on a four-hour flight to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. By Saturday he was dead. “The last contact I had with my father was at 18:15 on the flight to Moscow. He said he was saying goodbye,” Maxim Kolker said, according to the New York Post. “The investigator said that the conditions are good, there is a refrigerator in the prison cell. What kind of fridge? The man cannot eat, they feed him intravenously.” A quantum and laser specialist, Kolker was detained over a series of lectures he had given to students in China, the content of which had been pre-approved by Russian security agents. “These accusations are absolutely ridiculous and extremely cruel and unusual to be leveled at such a sick person,” Kolker’s son told Reuters. “They knew he was on his deathbed and they chose to arrest him.
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