Alexander Tolmachev

Alexander Mikhailovich Tolmachev was a journalist, editor and publisher from Rostov-on-Don. He published the newspaper Upolnomochen Zayavit and the magazine Pro Rostov and also served as editor-in-chief of Novocherkasskiye Vedomosti. His publications focused heavily on investigative reporting concerning regional officials, courts, prosecutors and business interests. Reporters Without Borders described him as an independent journalist known for anti-corruption investigations and criticism of local judicial and political authorities.

Tolmachev was arrested on December 20, 2011, and spent almost three years in pre-trial detention. Prosecutors accused him of several counts of extortion. According to the prosecution, he demanded money or property from businessmen in exchange for withholding compromising material from publication. Tolmachev denied wrongdoing.

At the defence’s request, the Russian Supreme Court transferred the case from the Rostov region to the Krasnodar region. Reporters Without Borders subsequently raised concerns about the proceedings. Of approximately 50 prosecution witnesses named in the case, only seven testified in court, while two women said they had been pressured into signing pre-written statements against the journalist.

On October 29, 2014, the Kushchyovskaya District Court convicted Tolmachev under Part 3 of Article 163 of the Russian Criminal Code and sentenced him to nine years in a strict-regime penal colony. He served his sentence in Penal Colony No. 9 in the Orenburg region.

Tolmachev died in the colony on November 9, 2020, approximately six weeks before his expected release. Memorial’s political-prisoner support project lists the case in its archive and includes him among people who died while subjected to what the organization considers politically motivated prosecution.