People lay flowers for late opposition leader Alexey Navalny during a vigil following his death, St. Petersburg, Russia, 17 February 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV
At least 15 political prisoners have died while in the custody of the Russian authorities so far this year, Russian human rights group OVD-Info reported on Thursday.
Ten of the 15 died either in a penal colony or pretrial detention centre, including murdered opposition politician Alexey Navalny, volunteer and activist Alexander Demidenko, Ukrainian prisoner of war Oleksandr Ishchenko, pianist Pavel Kushnir and Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna. OVD-Info only included people on its list whose deaths are well documented.
Another five political prisoners died while being detained, including activist Andrey Zhvakin and Belarusian citizen Nikolay Alekseyev. According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), all five were “agents of the Ukrainian secret services”. Four of the five were killed while resisting arrest, while Zhvakin is alleged to have blown himself up with a home-made bomb, according to the FSB.
Of the 124 people charged with arson related to the war in Ukraine so far this year, 50 were minors, 18 of whom have already been convicted and given prison sentences ranging from four to eight years, OVD-Info said.
At least 25 people have been sentenced to over 20 years in prison so far this year, according to OVD Info, including bartender Vladimir Malina, for committing railway arson, and IT specialist Ilya Baburin, for setting fire to a military recruitment office in acts of protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
