by Marco Imarisio
Konstantin Olmezov, Ukrainian, studied in Moscow. Twice he tried unsuccessfully to return to his homeland. Farewell via Telegram: The world is taking away freedom of thought
“If you read these words, it means that I will almost certainly never write anything again.” The death of a Ukrainian mathematician is almost a side note in the massive carnage of this socalled military special operation, which the Kremlin planned to last only two days. And in the end, we don’t really know much about a person who has decided not to be anymore. But there is no doubt about the reasons that led him to take his own life. Because it was he who wrote them in black and white, with three messages on Telegram that have the meaning of a farewell, a will. “The world must try to correct mistakes. And it doesn’t. The world must consist of people who think, empathize with others, who feel responsible for them. But it is not like that. The world should allow freedom of thought and choice. And instead he takes it off all the time ».
Konstantin Olmezov was still 27 years old. He was Ukrainian, born in Donetsk. In the capital Donbass he had graduated from the state university. In 2018 he was admitted to the MIPT specialization course, which until a few days ago was considered a kind of Moscow Harvard. “I fell in love with a science that wasn’t represented in Ukraine, additive combinatorics, and I was really in love with it, I was as crazy about it as you can be with a person.”
His colleagues, who mourn his loss on social media, speak of him as a mind with immeasurable talent. When he wasn’t studying the inverse problems underlying the science he was enamored with, Constantine was writing poetry. In his verses, which he published on his Telegram channel, light is repeatedly mentioned as a vital element as “hope for the future”. The darkness that enveloped him began with war, which not only kills on the battlefield but also alters the trajectories of individual destinies, confronting people with choices no one should ever be forced to make. «On February 26, I tried to leave the territory of Russia, a partially stupid gesture in that it was not well thought out. I was determined to defend my country from those who want to take away my basic right to exist. When I got on a bus, I was arrested because of a person I had told about my plans ».
His detention lasted fifteen days, during which time he had also received an invitation to continue his research at an Austrian university. But the pain had already begun to seep into him. “When they arrested me, I thought I had lost my freedom forever. So I made it clear to the FSB people who questioned me what I thought of what was going on. In the cell I started looking for only one thing, death. No less than ten attempts. The only thing I could dream of was to go back to freedom, to have a chance to try again and be able to do it. I still can’t understand why they fired me.
Maybe he had changed his mind. His lawyer claims he bought a plane ticket to Turkey to later return to Ukraine. But he could not leave, although it is not explained why this second escape was also unsuccessful, whether for an afterthought or for an airport check. On March 20, Konstantin Olmezov committed suicide in his apartment on the outskirts of Moscow. Dedicated to his Ukrainian friends, his last words allow us to take a look at a sensitive soul that cannot endure this horror we call war. “Every bomb that falls on the streets of Kyiv hurts me, I can’t take it anymore. From day one until today I was with you with all my soul, even if it is clear that I could not save anyone. I am an absolute atheist. I don’t believe in hell, I’m going to nothing. But I prefer this nothingness to the reality in which we live».
March 22, 2022 (change March 22, 2022 | 09:45)
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