{"id":60868,"date":"2025-09-16T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnym-aleksandra-voevodkina\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:02:19","slug":"aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/","title":{"rendered":"Aleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Political Prisoners. Memorial\u2019 human rights project, in accordance with<\/strong> international standards<\/strong><\/a>, considers Aleksandr Voevodkin a political prisoner. Voevodkin is being prosecuted on a charge of collusion with a foreign state. Voevodkin\u2019s criminal prosecution violates his right to a fair trial. We demand the immediate release of Aleksandr Voevodkin and that all criminal charges against him be dropped.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the charges against Aleksandr Voevodkin?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 14 March 2025 Aleksandr Voevodkin, a businessman who sells orthopaedic products and laboratory vacuum pumps and compressors, was placed under house arrest on a charge of \u2018wanting to collude with the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019 (Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). On 25 March 2025, a court of appeal remanded Voevodkin in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No other details of the case or Voevodkin’s views are known. He faces up to eight years\u2019 imprisonment if convicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we consider Aleksandr Voevodkin a political prisoner?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offence of \u2018collusion\u2019 was introduced into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in July 2022 as yet one more tool to be used by the authorities to combat \u2018internal enemies.\u2019 The law\u2019s provisions do not comply with the principle of legal certainty, effectively serving to criminalise any communication between Russian citizens and foreigners. The law provides for punishment not for specific actions, but merely for an alleged intention to \u2018facilitate\u2019 some undefined \u2018activity.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law on \u2018collusion\u2019 should be repealed, all related criminal convictions quashed and ongoing charges dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voevodkin\u2019s case shows that although the law on \u2018collusion\u2019 was adopted primarily to prosecute contacts with Western countries and Ukraine, the security forces can use it in other instances as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the investigative authorities had sufficient evidence that Voevodkin’s actions posed a threat to Russia’s security, he would have been charged with a different offence. The security forces use the offence of \u2018collusion\u2019 to intimidate society and avoid the need to actually prove the guilt of the accused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A detailed description of Aleksandr Voevodkin\u2019s case and of our position is available on our<\/a> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you help?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have information about the detention centre where Aleksandr Voevodkin is being held, please let us know by email help.political.prisoners@memohrc.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can donate<\/a> to help all political prisoners in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-60868","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","regions-saint-petersburg","news-type-nashi-novosti-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China\" \/>\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\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Political prisoners support. Memorial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T08:02:19+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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/\",\"name\":\"Aleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T12:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-18T08:02:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/#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\":\"Aleksandr Voevodkin 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":"Aleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial","description":"A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China","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\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial","og_description":"A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China","og_url":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/","og_site_name":"Political prisoners support. Memorial","article_modified_time":"2026-06-18T08:02:19+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/","url":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/","name":"Aleksandr Voevodkin is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. Memorial","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-16T12:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-18T08:02:19+00:00","description":"A businessman from St. Petersburg has been remanded in custody on charges of collusion with China","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/aleksandr-voevodkin-is-a-political-prisoner\/#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":"Aleksandr Voevodkin 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\/60868","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=60868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}