A Muscovite who fought for Ukraine and was tried in a “sanitary case” died

Dany Akel, previously convicted in the so-called sanitary case – for participating in a rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow in January 2021, died during the war in Ukraine. He fought on the side of Ukraine as part of the “Freedom of Russia” legion, which allegedly consisted of Russian citizens. It was the legion that reported the death of Akel, without providing details about its circumstances. Mediazona drew attention to the message.

Akel was 26 years old. “Agentstvo” previously wrote that he joined the ranks of a volunteer formation fighting against Russian troops. In 2023, he appeared in one of the videos in which legion fighters are fighting in the Shebekinsky District of the Russian Belgorod Region.

Later, Akel himself told the Spektr magazine that in the winter of 2022 he fled across the Pskov region to Estonia, surrendered to border guards and received refugee status four months later. After that, he joined the “Freedom of Russia” legion, as part of which he participated in sorties in the Belgorod Region. As “Mediazona” notes, Akel under the call sign “Apostol” was also among the participants in the video report of the British newspaper Times about the legion, which was released in February 2024.

Previously, Akel lived in Moscow, was a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of Russian State University. On January 23, 2021, he was detained at an uncoordinated rally in support of Navalny. A criminal case was opened against him on charges of violation of the so-called self-isolation regime introduced in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. This, in turn, became the reason for the initiation of cases against Navalny’s closest associates – on charges of incitement to violation of sanitary restrictions. It was reported that Akel pleaded guilty, and the court sentenced him to a fine of 100,000 rubles.

• On March 12, the Legion “Freedom of Russia” and other volunteer formations fighting on the side of Ukraine announced an attack on the Belgorod and Kursk regions. Fighting broke out in a number of areas on the Ukrainian-Russian border. The Russian authorities announced a large number of people killed on the Ukrainian side, and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued death threats to Russian citizens fighting for Ukraine. Whether Akel died during the March battles is unknown.
• Now there are no reports of battles on the border, apparently the attackers did not succeed in gaining a foothold on Russian territory. In the conditions of hostilities, it is impossible to quickly verify the statements of the parties.