Russian Rights Ombudsman Calls Igor Zyazin’s Death in US Custody ‘Suspicious’

The death of Russian national Igor Zyazin in custody in California is "suspicious" and proves that US rights protections have a blind spot when it comes to Russians, a Russian rights ombudsman said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian was detained on April 24 when he tried to cross into the United States through the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego, California. He died in custody at a migrant detention center on May 1. On Monday, the Russian Embassy in San Francisco received an 11-page autopsy report stating the apparent natural cause of his death.

"The situation is exceptionally strange. There’s no doubt that all this information was handed over to us with a delay. The whole story seems suspicious to me, because the reasons for his detention are not clear," Konstantin Dolgov, a senior Foreign Ministry official in charge of human rights and rule of law, told RIA Novosti.

He said this was another case that showed that the US legal system was "prone to systemic deficiencies." "US law enforcement and special services often…violate rights, freedoms and interests of Russian citizens," he added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that the US medical examiner to launch a thorough investigation into Zyazin’s death, allegedly of cardiovascular disease, and inform it promptly about the findings.