Eleven Russian leftist and anti-war political prisoners have called on politicians and the media around the world to speak out and “create conditions for the release of all those persecuted in Russia for political reasons”.
The prisoners, which include Marxist sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, anti-war activist Daria Kozyreva and anarchist mathematician Azat Miftakhov, released their letter on July 3 amid ongoing negotiations between the United States and Russia over a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
Left out of these talks so far has been the crucial issue of what will happen to the many thousands being held captive by the Russian state.
The letter, also signed by Alexei Gorinov, Anna Arkhipova, Vladimir Domnin, Dmitry Pchelintsev, Andrei Trofimov, Ilya Shakursky, Alexander Shestun and Artem Kamardin, notes: “There are at least 10,000 of us — Russian political prisoners and Ukrainian civilian hostages.
“We are all punished for one thing — for taking a civic stance.”
According to them, “the concepts of justice and fairness are absent in Russia today; anyone who dares to think critically can end up behind bars.”
They point out that more than 60 pieces of repressive legislation have been passed since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That is on top of at least 50 other draconian laws adopted since 2018 under President Vladimir Putin — all aimed at crushing dissent.
Kozyreva was one of the many to fall foul of these new laws. The then 18-year-old was arrested in February 2024 for “discrediting the army” because she pasted a poem by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko on a monument — a “crime” for which she is now serving two years and eight months in a general penal colony.
The prisoners also highlight that “there are no acquittals in politically motivated cases in Russia” and “the cruelty of punishment is growing; no one is surprised by 10-, 15- and 20-year prison terms.”
Kagarlitsky is an example of how far the state is willing to go to ensure political activists are not let off lightly.
He was initially handed a fine after being found guilty of “justifying terrorism” for a joke he made on a YouTube video.
However, the state prosecution appealed his sentence on the grounds it was “excessively lenient” and the military appeals court agreed, upgrading Kagarlitsky’s sentence to a five-year jail term.
The political prisoners also explained that they are “more often than others, held in harsher conditions and deprived of the opportunity for parole and legal relaxation of the detention regime” and that “the practice of initiating additional criminal cases based on denunciations by other convicts has become common.”
This occurred with Miftakhov, who after serving five years in jail, was meant to go free in 2023. Instead, a month before his release, he was informed that he would be charged with “justifying terrorism” based on testimonies of other prisoners, and given a new four-year jail term.
“But despite all this”, the prisoners said, “we have not lost our voices, we have not sunk into oblivion.”
The political prisoners called on “both sides of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to immediately conduct an exchange of prisoners of war and civilians according to the formula ‘all for all’, including Ukrainian civilian hostages.”
This is similar to the demand raised by the broad-based , whose founding statement says: “Our movement has come together around a simple call: put people first.
"A key priority of any negotiated agreement must be the release of all captives and illegally deported children of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
For the People First campaign, this includes Ukrainian civilians held by Russia, Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, Ukrainian children forcibly transferred or deported to Russia, and Russian anti-war political prisoners.
The letter also calls for “the immediate and unconditional release of sick political prisoners” and requests that politicians and media not remain silent but instead “cover the activities of Russian citizens who continue to risk their lives in the struggle for freedom and democracy.”
“We ask politicians from democratic countries to support the struggle of Russians and to adopt resolutions on behalf of Parliaments, political associations and parties.”
“Only together can we bring closer the time of freedom and peace.”
[For more on the campaign to free Boris Kagarlitsky and Russian anti-war political prisoners visit freeboris.info.]