{"id":48592,"date":"2025-07-03T15:13:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:33:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:33:50","slug":"my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>A medical laboratory assistant<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>graffiti<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The \u2018Political Prisoners. Memorial\u2019 human rights project, in accordance with<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/guidelines-on-definition-of-political-prisoner\/\"><strong> international standards<\/strong><\/a><strong>, considers Andrei Gilishev a political prisoner. For intending to assist a Ukrainian unit and for anti-war graffiti, Gilishev was convicted on charges of participation in a terrorist organisation and vandalism motivated by political hatred.<\/strong><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><strong>His prosecution and conviction violated his rights to freedom of expression and a fair trial. We demand the immediate release of Andrei Gilishev and that all criminal charges against him be dropped.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What were the charges against Andrei Gilishev?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andrei Gilishev worked as an assistant at an MRI diagnostic centre in Tyumen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 6 February 2024, officers from \u2018Centre E\u2019 anti-extremism police detained him and, according to Gilishev, tortured him with electric shocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the investigative authorities, from December 2023 to February 2024 Gilishev participated in the activities of the Free Russia Legion, filling in an online application form and corresponding with a certain \u2018Pavel.\u2019 Gilishev wanted to persuade people who supported Putin to change their views and allegedly expressed willingness to assist the Legion as a field medic. In addition, Gilishev painted two pieces of graffiti: a white-blue-white flag on a memorial and the words \u2018Russian Orthodox Church for murderers\u2019 on a church fence. The damage was recognised as minimal and of no monetary value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigative authorities classified these actions as participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation (Article 205.5, Part 2, of the Russian Criminal Code) and vandalism motivated by political hatred (Article 214, Part 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 24 December 2024, a court in Ekaterinburg sentenced Gilishev to 15 years\u2019 imprisonment, of which the first four years are to be served in a cell-type prison and the remainder in a strict regime penal colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking at his trial, Gilishev stressed that his actions were an expression of disagreement with the authorities\u2019 policies and the war. In his final speech in court, he said: \u2018Dissent is not a crime.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why do we consider Andrei Gilishev a political prisoner?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charge of participation in a terrorist organisation was unfounded and unlawful. The Free Russia Legion has been wrongly designated a terrorist organisation by the Russian authorities. In reality, it is a unit of the Ukrainian armed forces, participation in which should not be classified as terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charge of vandalism was also unfounded. Gilishev\u2019s graffiti did not offend public morality, and the attribution of \u2018political hatred\u2019 as a motive was arbitrary. The writing on the church fence was a form of expression reflecting Gilishev\u2019s view that the Russian Orthodox Church promotes propaganda for Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. The material damage caused by his actions was minimal, and he had no intention of desecrating objects of religious faith. His actions should at most have resulted in a penalty under administrative law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We believe Gilishev may have been the victim of a police sting operation. He is convinced the address to which he submitted his application to the Free Russia Legion was a fake, and that he corresponded with an undercover agent. Such operational provocations are expressly prohibited by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gilishev was prosecuted and convicted solely for expressing disagreement with the war and the authorities\u2019 policies. His punishment was politically motivated and grossly disproportionate to his actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A detailed description of Andrei Gilishev\u2019s case and of our position is available on our<a href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/figurant\/gilishev-andrej-nikolaevich\/\"> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner does not imply the \u2018Political Prisoners. Memorial\u2019 human rights project agrees with, or approves, their views, statements, or actions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How can you help?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can write to Andrei Gilishev at the following address:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RU: 457670, \u0427\u0435\u043b\u044f\u0431\u0438\u043d\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043e\u0431\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0442\u044c, \u0433. \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0445\u043d\u0435\u0443\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044c\u0441\u043a, \u0443\u043b. \u0421\u0435\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0430\u044f, \u0434. 1, \u0424\u041a\u0423 \u0422 \u0413\u0423\u0424\u0421\u0418\u041d \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0438 \u043f\u043e \u0427\u0435\u043b\u044f\u0431\u0438\u043d\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u043e\u0431\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0438, \u0413\u0438\u043b\u0438\u0448\u0435\u0432\u0443 \u0410\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0435\u044e \u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0435\u0432\u0438\u0447\u0443 1991 \u0433. \u0440.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>EN: Andrei Nikolaevich Gilishev (born 1991), Prison of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Chelyabinsk Oblast, 1 Severnaya, Verkhneuralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, 457670, Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also send an email using<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zonatelecom.ru\/services\/letter\/payments-letter\"> ZT<\/a> (for payment with all bank cards),<a href=\"https:\/\/lettersnow.org\/p\/nazarii-gordeev\"> OVD-Info<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/memorial-france.org\/politzeki\/\"> Memorial-France<\/a> (free of charge).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please note that letters in languages other than Russian are highly unlikely to reach the intended recipient.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You<a href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/donate\/\"> can donate<\/a> to help all political prisoners in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-48592","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","regions-sverdlovsk-oblast","news-type-nashi-novosti-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A medical laboratory assistant from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war graffiti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A medical laboratory assistant from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war graffiti\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Political prisoners support. Memorial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-22T13:33:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/\",\"name\":\"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-03T12:13:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-22T13:33:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"A medical laboratory assistant from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war graffiti\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/\",\"name\":\"\u041f\u043e\u0434\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0436\u043a\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0437\u0430\u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u0451\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445. \u041c\u0435\u043c\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0430\u043b\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial","description":"A medical laboratory assistant from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war graffiti","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial","og_description":"A medical laboratory assistant from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war graffiti","og_url":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/","og_site_name":"Political prisoners support. Memorial","article_modified_time":"2025-09-22T13:33:50+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/","url":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/","name":"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-03T12:13:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-22T13:33:50+00:00","description":"A medical laboratory assistant from Tyumen has been sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony for attempting to join the Free Russia Legion and for anti-war graffiti","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-andreya-gilisheva\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438","item":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Andrei Gilishev is a political prisoner"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/","name":"\u041f\u043e\u0434\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0436\u043a\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0437\u0430\u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u0451\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445. \u041c\u0435\u043c\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0430\u043b","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}