A Russian actor who was an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin was found dead in his Moscow Flat.  Alexei Devotchenko was found dead of a heart attack according to some reports, or found in a pool of his own blood according to other accounts.

An online tabloid says Devotchenko died of blood loss from severe cuts, and that packets of an epilepsy drug were scattered amongst empty bottles of whiskey.  An anonymous police source told another Russian news outlet, “There is reason to suppose that the artist’s death is of a criminal character.”

The 49-year-old Alexei Devotchenko was a prominent actor who appeared in TV dramas and on stage.  He performed King Lear in London in 2006.

But in 2011 he wrote, “I’ve had enough of all this tsar-state stuff, with its lies, its cover-ups, its legalized theft, its bribe-taking and its other triumphs.”  Devotchenko renounced two state-awarded prizes at that time, saying he was “ashamed” to have received them “from Putin’s hands”.  More recently, Devotchenko and other actors signed an open letter blasting Russian military involvement in Ukraine.