A case of treason was brought against a volunteer who helped refugees

A criminal case of treason has been opened against Belgorod volunteer Oleksandr Demydenko, who helped Ukrainian refugees cross the border to return to their families. “We can explain” writes about this with reference to his son’s ego.

As Oleg Demydenko said, last week he received a letter from his father, who is in pre-trial detention center, from which he learned that a criminal case of treason had been opened against him. According to the son, Alexander Demydenko is accused of transferring “secret information” to Ukraine.

Alexander Demydenko also wrote that he pleaded guilty in the case of illegal arms trafficking. The son is sure that he did it under pressure to protect his loved ones from persecution.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, 61-year-old Oleksandr Demydenko went to anti-war pickets and helped Ukrainian refugees return to their families, drove them to the border, hosted them at home. Up to 900 people stayed in his house and had to spend the night somewhere – the border crossing was often closed due to shelling, writes “Mediazona”.

Demydenko went missing at the Russian checkpoint “Kolotylovka” in the Belgorod region on October 17. According to the volunteers, he brought an elderly woman to the border crossing, but two members of the Teroborona blocked his way to the parking lot. After that, the connection with him disappeared.

Three days later, police officers brought Demydenko home and conducted a search. Then his wife Natalya Vishnevskaya noticed numerous traces of beatings on her husband’s body. During the search, Alexander Demydenko allegedly found a grenade and detonators from the 1940s.

On October 20, Alexander Demydenko was arrested for 10 days on an administrative charge of drinking alcoholic beverages. On October 31, he was released, but the next day he was again detained and arrested for 30 days. During the second administrative arrest, a criminal case was opened for the illegal transfer of weapons and he was placed in a pre-trial detention center.

According to Oleg Demydenko, the reason he was persecuted for his father was his fight against extortion of Ukrainian refugees at the Kolotylovka checkpoint. On October 11, the “Ashes” channel published an investigation about this. Six days after publication, the volunteer was protected.