Andrei Ivanov is a political prisoner
Resident of Vologda Oblast, a former factory worker with a disability, sentenced to two years in a penal colony for an anti-Putin comment posted in 2021
Andrei Ivanov used to work as a tool sharpener at a furniture factory. He suffered several heart attacks, after which he retired on health grounds and moved from Cherepovets to the village of Pavshozero.
In December 2025, Ivanov was placed under house arrest and charged with publicly calling for terrorist activity (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). The case was based on a comment he posted in the “Financial News” online community in March 2021: “Hang this bastard in Red Square. And do it publicly. There will be no life under this tsar. He has sold everything he could to the Americans and shut down everything he couldn’t. The ‘smartest’ politician, in quotation marks.”
The prosecution argued that Ivanov had thereby called for an attempt on the life of a state or public figure with the aim of terminating their state or other political activity, or out of revenge for such activity.
Ivanov said that he had written the comment “in the heat of the moment”: he was dissatisfied with the country’s economic situation and believed that Putin should be removed from power.
In April 2026, Ivanov was sentenced to two years in a penal colony and taken into custody in the courtroom.
We believe that the comment in question does not constitute a call for terrorism: the words about “hanging PutinPutin in Red Square” are clearly a rhetorical device, a figurative expression of an extremely critical attitude. Ivanov merely expressed an emotional opinion about Putin’s actions. Such a statement cannot incite anyone to do anything and poses no public danger.
Moreover, even if Ivanov’s words were assumed to constitute a criminal offence, an actual prison sentence for a single comment posted five years ago is a disproportionate and cruel punishment for an older man with serious health problems. Imprisonment will cause Ivanov additional suffering and may put his life at risk.
A detailed description of Ivanov’s case and of our position is available on our website.
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