Latvian basketball star found dead in Moscow after apparent suicide

Latvian basketball player Janis Timma was found dead in Moscow after an apparent suicide, according to Russian state media reported early Tuesday.

An unnamed emergency official told the state-run TASS news agency that the 32-year-old’s body was found inside the entrance of a residential building in central Moscow. According to the official, the preliminary cause of death was suicide.

It was not immediately clear why Timma might have killed himself, but the emergency official told TASS that a phone containing his “final wish” was found next to his body. An unnamed source told Pure TV channel that sentence “call Anya” popped up on his phone.

Anya is the nickname of the Russian-Ukrainian pop star and Timma’s ex-wife Anna Sedokova, who announced in the autumn that she had filed for divorce after four years of marriage and celebrated her 42nd birthday on Monday.

Sedokova appeared on Instagram in tears on Tuesday to say her life had been “hell” in recent years and urged followers to help her shield the news of Timma’s death from her young children. Timma and Sedokova have children from previous marriages, but not their own.

According to the Baza Telegram news channel, which has ties to Russian law enforcement, Timma died from suffocation. Timma reportedly arrived in Moscow two days before Sedokova’s birthday and stopped at a hotel in central Moscow, where he was later found dead.

Timma played for BC Zenit St. Petersburg and BC Khimki between 2015 and 2021.

Both clubs expressed condolences to Timma’s friends and family over his “tragic” death. Timma’s latest club, Spain’s Obradoiro, said it offers “heartfelt support to Janis Timma’s family and friends at this difficult time.”