Russian authorities accused of driving martial arts champion to suicide 

Legislation enforcement within the Transbaikal area in Russia have been accused of driving an area martial arts champion to suicide.

Oleg Sorokanyuk’s physique was discovered on Nov. 10. at an area kids’s martial arts faculty that he based earlier this yr. The 32-year-old’s loss of life was dominated as a probable suicide, although studies have since emerged shedding gentle on the circumstances main as much as the athlete’s loss of life.

In line with native Transbaikal new outlet Chita,ru, which first broke the story on Sorokanyuk’s passing, the athlete’s loss of life came about shortly after he was interrogated by native regulation enforcement over allegations that considered one of his trainers had bodily assaulted a number of kids throughout a summer time camp at his facility.

The studies have been later confirmed by Transbaikal Minister of Sports activities Andrey Seredkin, who clarified that Sorokanyuk was merely a witness within the case.

“We talked with him, and Oleg stated that the case didn’t concern him,” Seredkin stated. “He was solely there as a witness. For my part, there are extra questions for one more man, whose title is Andrei.”

In October 2022, a prison investigation was launched into Andrei Yemtsov, a 24-year-old former scholar of Sorokanyuk who was later employed as a coach for the kids’s summer time martial arts camp. Yemtsov was accused of assaulting two younger kids together with his first, in addition to a rolling pin.

Whereas Sorokanyuk, who additionally served because the president of the Federation of Pankration and MMA in Transbaikalia, was not named as an assailant, he was criticized by the authorities for hiring a coach with no prior expertise instructing martial arts or kids.

“The junior coach who didn’t have a pedagogical schooling, having taken on the features of an educator, systematically beat two younger boys,” the Trans-Baikal Territory Prosecutor’s Workplace stated in an announcement. “Staff of the sports activities faculty, by verbal settlement, with out drawing up an employment contract, allowed outsiders who would not have the talents to work with kids to work with kids.”

Elena Khzanyan, the journalist who first broke the story for Chita,ru and whose personal baby skilled beneath Sorokanyuk, accused local authorities of driving the athlete to suicide via their ongoing investigation—a view that was reiterated by Sorokanyuk’s household.

“He didn’t have the power to combat towards the system,” Khzanyan stated on the VKontakte social community. “I really need all caring individuals who know Oleg to not ignore this.”

Each the Ministry of Inner Affairs for Transbaikalia and the native prosecutor’s workplace refused to comment on the scenario or affirm whether or not an investigation can be performed into the actions of the workers concerned in assessing the prison case.

Sorokanyuk was a three-time Russian and European champion in common karate, in addition to an avid practitioner of sambo, taekwondo, kickboxing and judo. He leaves behind a spouse and a younger daughter.