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The brother of accused cop killer Dezi Freeman believes the fugitive is dead, according to a controversial YouTube host fleeing arrest in Australia’s Russian consulate.
Simeon Boikov, an Australian pro-Vladimir Putin activist who was granted asylum in the consulate in 2022, posted a video to YouTube on October 5 in which he claimed Freeman’s brother, James Filby, had reached out to him.
Boikov claimed Filby said Freeman had been a fan of his and had encouraged others to watch Boikov’s videos during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dezi Freeman was a subscriber and he used to love watching the Aussie Cossack channel,” Boikov said.
“Although I’ve never personally spoken to Dezi Freeman I can see why he was a subscriber.”
Boikov has said he never encouraged any violence against police.
A screenshot from a since-deactivated YouTube account connected to the name James Filby showed a comment on one of Boikov’s other videos.
“What Dez did was wrong, but he’s my brother and I miss him,” the comment, published by Nine newspapers, read.
“I hope he has peace now. I imagine his last hours on earth were cold, lonely, fearful and sad for his family.
“I know he’d want to be buried on Mount Buffalo and never found by police. But we need closure.”
Boikov, nicknamed online as the “Aussie Cossack”, said in a video he would like to speak to Filby on his “show” on Sunday.
Boikov fled to the Russian consulate after he assaulted a pro-Ukraine protester in 2022.
He has been convicted in absentia.
Freeman, 56, has not been seen since August 26, when police officers Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot dead at his home at Porepunkah in regional Victoria.
The two officers were part of a team executing a search warrant on Freeman’s property.
A third officer was also wounded.
Police have deployed cadaver dogs during their large-scale search for the fugitive, but have also suggested Freeman may yet be alive and potentially getting help from somebody in the local community.
A $1 million reward has been offered for information leading to Freeman’s arrest.
