Putin critic Elena Gremina reportedly died six weeks after her husband.
Tatyana Makeyeva / Reuters
A renowned Russian playwright who wrote a play about the death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has been found dead, according to a number of reports from Russia. Elena Gremina, 62, reportedly died just six weeks after the death of her her husband, Mikhail Ugarov, who directed the play, which was called One Hour and Eighteen Minutes. The play revolved around the death of Magnitsky in a Moscow prison cell in 2009 after he exposed a coverup by state officials to embezzle an estimated $230m from the Russian treasury. Deputy theater director Viktoria Kholodova told the Russian news agency TASS: “I just found out, they say it’s true .. It’s another shock for us... It’s all very unexpected now. On the first of April [died] Mikhail Ugarov, now here it is.” Ugarov was reported to have “died suddenly” of a heart attack at the start of April this year. The lawyer who represents Magnitsky’s family also experienced misfortune last year, when he reportedly fell out of a high window in March.
