Political prisoners support.
Memorial

After the illegal and unjustified liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center, with the consent of its Council, our team continues the work of the Memorial Human Rights Center Support Program for Political Prisoners as an independent human rights project

Should I stay or should I go (back)? – 2. Another 24 stories of Russians who returned to their homeland and ended up behind bars

Database of the project ‘Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial’

Stand with victims of political repression

New political prisoners:

Political prisoners:

2510

since 2009

1845

now

Who are political prisoners

Political prisoners

Number of figurants: 1845

Other victims of political repression

Number of figurants: 70

Political Prisoners — Victims of the War

Number of figurants: 613

Persecuted Jehovah's Witnesses

Number of figurants: 214

List of persecuted Hizb ut-Tahrir members

Number of figurants: 221

All the persecuted

News

All news

22 Oct, 2026

Jehovah’s Witness Aleksandr Kutin released after serving his sentence

Jehovah’s Witness Aleksandr Kutin, 44, was released on 16 October 2026 after completing his term.
22 Oct, 2026

Nova Kakhovka resident sentenced to 12.5 years on charges of passing information to Ukrainian intelligence. Her husband was previously convicted in a similar case

A resident of occupied Nova Kakhovka Nadiia Berezhna has been sentenced to 12.5 years on charges of high treason. Her husband Andrii Berezhnyi was previously sentenced to 11 years.
Meduza 21 Oct, 2026

Who is Stephen Hubbard, the American Putin just freed?

Vladimir Putin has released U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, who had been convicted by a Russian court on mercenary charges
21 Oct, 2026

Moscow court sentences sports coach to five years in a penal colony for spreading military ‘fake news’

According to publicly available sources, Oleg Gulik, 42, worked as an athletics coach for the Moscow City branch of the Dynamo sports society
20 Oct, 2026

FSB videos: behind the scenes of dramatic arrests

Political Prisoners Memorial examined 70 politically motivated criminal cases to find out what goes into a typical FSB video
15 Oct, 2026

Jehovah’s Witness from Kemerovo Oblast sentenced to six years in a penal colony on extremism charges

Vitaliy Syrykh, a Jehovah’s Witness, has been sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of organising the activities of a banned religious association
15 Oct, 2026

Fyodor Sidushkin is a political prisoner

A 21-year-old law student from Moscow sentenced to two years of compulsory labour for transferring 100 rubles to the founder of 'Male State' in 2022
14 Oct, 2026

Database of the project ‘Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial’

At least 5,730 people in Russia and the occupied Ukrainian territories have been deprived of liberty with signs of political motivation
14 Oct, 2026

Muslim man jailed in Russia over Hizb ut-Tahrir links dies in penal colony

Rustam Khalikov jailed in Russia over alleged involvement in the banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir has died in a penal colony.

22 Oct, 2026

Jehovah’s Witness Aleksandr Kutin released after serving his sentence

Jehovah’s Witness Aleksandr Kutin, 44, was released on 16 October 2026 after completing his term.
22 Oct, 2026

Nova Kakhovka resident sentenced to 12.5 years on charges of passing information to Ukrainian intelligence. Her husband was previously convicted in a similar case

A resident of occupied Nova Kakhovka Nadiia Berezhna has been sentenced to 12.5 years on charges of high treason. Her husband Andrii Berezhnyi was previously sentenced to 11 years.
21 Oct, 2026

Moscow court sentences sports coach to five years in a penal colony for spreading military ‘fake news’

According to publicly available sources, Oleg Gulik, 42, worked as an athletics coach for the Moscow City branch of the Dynamo sports society
20 Oct, 2026

FSB videos: behind the scenes of dramatic arrests

Political Prisoners Memorial examined 70 politically motivated criminal cases to find out what goes into a typical FSB video
15 Oct, 2026

Jehovah’s Witness from Kemerovo Oblast sentenced to six years in a penal colony on extremism charges

Vitaliy Syrykh, a Jehovah’s Witness, has been sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of organising the activities of a banned religious association
14 Oct, 2026

Database of the project ‘Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial’

At least 5,730 people in Russia and the occupied Ukrainian territories have been deprived of liberty with signs of political motivation
14 Oct, 2026

Muslim man jailed in Russia over Hizb ut-Tahrir links dies in penal colony

Rustam Khalikov jailed in Russia over alleged involvement in the banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir has died in a penal colony.
14 Oct, 2026

Russia’s FSB releases ‘confession’ video of former teacher detained in occupied Kherson

Russia’s security service, the FSB, has published a video in which a woman from the occupied part of Kherson Oblast says she was detained over comments she posted on the Telegram messaging app.
13 Oct, 2026

Anna Sotsenko, 71, on day 43 of hunger strike in Simferopol remand prison

Anna Sotsenko, a resident of occupied Crimea, continues the hunger strike she began on 1 September.

Meduza 21 Oct, 2026

Who is Stephen Hubbard, the American Putin just freed?

Vladimir Putin has released U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, who had been convicted by a Russian court on mercenary charges
Meduza 13 Oct, 2026

Who is Yuki Imai, the Japanese journalist Russia has arrested on espionage charges?

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) identified him as a Japanese national and a correspondent for the newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun
RusNews 01 Oct, 2026

Azat Miftakhov back in punishment cell, believes it is retaliation for court victory

‘Fifteen days, from Monday. Apparently I missed a spot dusting again,’ Azat explained. ‘Azat, start dusting already,’ joked his wife and defence representative, Elena Gorban. ‘I think this was because of our latest court hearing. By the way, how did it go?’ Azat replied. The court ruled that Azat Miftakhov’s rights had been violated when […]
Mediazona 30 Sep, 2026

Russia sentences 68-year-old Ukrainian man with a disability to 14 years in prison on treason charges

The Kamchatka Krai Court sentenced 68-year-old Valerii Dobrovolskyi to 14 years in a high-security penal colony on charges of high treason.
Медиазона 01 Sep, 2026

Melitopol resident accused of preparing a terrorist attack tells court of electric shock torture and ‘some kind of injections’

53-year-old Melitopol resident Olga Kapralova, who is accused of preparing an act of terrorism, described being abducted and tortured
24 Aug, 2026

Russian woman who returned to Moscow from Ukraine over paperwork charged with high treason after four months of ‘carousel’ arrests

Moscow investigators have opened a criminal case on charges of high treason against Svetlana Golovatenko, who lived in Ukraine for many years but returned to Russia to renew her expired internal passport and re-register a flat she still owned in Donetsk.
SOTAvision 22 Jul, 2026

Kherson resident’s six-year sentence upheld over comments about Vladlen Tatarsky and calls on Russian soldiers to surrender

The Appellate Military Court in Vlasikha, outside Moscow, has upheld a six-year sentence in a general-regime penal colony for Kherson resident Nataliia Pushkash
Mediazona 21 Apr, 2026

The 225 donor cases. Russian authorities continue to prosecute donors to Navalny’s Anti‑Corruption Foundation across the country

At least 225 criminal cases had been opened across Russia over donations to Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) made after it was banned as “extremist” in August 2021
Novaya gazeta 17 Apr, 2026

Artist Liudmila Razumova fears for her life in Russian remand centre

Politprisoner Liudmila Razumova is reportedly in fear for her life following an escalation of hostilities at a remand centre in Tver.