7 – 24 April 2026
by Sergei Davidis
Source: Facebook
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7 April 2026
Ivan Astashkin: A new case is being fabricated against 19-year-old Alexandr Leleko, convicted of setting fire to a relay cabinet. He is being tortured to force false confessions […] Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
7 April 2026
The campaign to free political prisoners who are mothers with underage children is still underway.
We share the stories of each of the 20 women who are on our political prisoner lists.
Please support them!
Source: Facebook
9 April 2026
Unsurprisingly, Supreme Court Justice Vyacheslav Kirillov ruled today to designate the ‘International Public Memorial Movement’ — whatever that refers to, as there’s no actual entity with that name — an extremist organization.
The secrecy surrounding this ruling only serves to underscore its brazen unlawfulness and ungrounded nature. It’s bad enough that the case itself was classified, but lawyers were also not permitted to participate.
It’s clear that a non-existent entity that isn’t registered anywhere can’t grant power of attorney, so a lawyer represented me. The response was basically the same as in cases on banning other made-up organizations: that I had nothing to do with this.
However, the court refers to me as an official of the ‘Memorial Society’ in a verdict handed down to me for reposting material from the ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ project, and I have been added to the foreign agent registry as a participant in the ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ project and the Memorial Human Rights Centre. I have been fined on more than one occasion for failing to fulfil the obligations imposed on these organizations by the state.
I would be very surprised if these organizations weren’t named in the court ruling or the list of ‘subdivisions’ of the banned movement.
That kind of outrageous, flagrant disregard for procedural norms — which of course could in no way have influenced the court’s decision — is clearly intended to obscure the ludicrous and unlawful nature of its grounds and arguments.
Below is a statement from our project, ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’, on the Supreme Court’s decision.
On 9 April, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued an unlawful and completely unfounded decision to designate the ‘International Public Memorial Movement’ an extremist organization.
The illegality and lack of any basis for this decision are clear even to those who ordered and executed it. There’s no other way to explain the unprecedented ‘top secret’ classification placed on the case materials.
Although the organization that the court decision bans does not exist, it is clear that the purpose of this decision is to ban, under threat of prosecution, everything associated with the activities of the numerous Memorial-affiliated organizations. Moreover, based on what we have seen with similar decisions, we can assume that the ban also covers the ‘Memorial’ group’s ‘ideology’ — that is, the value of preserving historical memory and upholding human rights.
These values, as well as the practical work of restoring the memories of past victims of political repression, raising awareness about today’s victims of political repression, and supporting them, are intolerable to a dictatorship waging a war of aggression.
It is all the more critical for us, the independent ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ project, to continue our work of speaking the truth about political repression in Russia, fighting for the release of political prisoners, and supporting them in captivity.
The absurd ‘extremism’ label that the authorities are trying to attach to us does nevertheless require us to take certain steps to ensure the safety of like-minded individuals and supporters. We do not have, nor have we ever had, partners in Russia. We have stopped collecting donations and sending payments within the country. We ask that everyone located in the Russian Federation or territories controlled by Russia refrain from sharing any of our materials or logos on social media and delete any posts made in the past.
Despite this clampdown, we will carry on and strengthen our work until the day when all victims of politically motivated criminal prosecution are free.
Freedom for political prisoners!
Source: Facebook
9 April 2026
Of course, the decision declaring ‘Memorial’ extremist fits into the broader policy of further suffocating everything independent or alive in Russia, and of building an ‘iron curtain’ between Russia and the rest of the world in the information sphere.
This same policy includes internet blocking, banning messaging apps, and recent raids at Novaya gazeta and the Confederation of Labour of Russia.
I think this new round of tightened restrictions is driven by the fact that, as public support for the war and for the authorities in general declines, the results of earlier efforts of repression are clearly seen by the authorities as insufficient.
Source: Facebook
13 April 2026
I don’t believe I have any Hungarian friends, but I would like to congratulate the Hungarians and everyone who wanted Orbán defeated.
Whatever the new government’s shortcomings may be, what’s good is that they provide an alternative to Orbán, and they certainly won’t repeat his policies in many regards.
And what’s most important is that the Hungarians were able to change the regime at all, particularly as it was one with authoritarian tendencies.
Source: Facebook
23 April 2026
In times of doubt and painful reflections on Russia’s fate, what helps me keep despair at bay is reading Ivan Filippov’s Telegram channel, ‘All Quiet on the Zzzz-Western Front’.
It’s a very comforting and good for the soul. The people quoted there could spin anything into an excuse for savage, chauvinistic boasting, but the fact that now they only seem to find things to whine pathetically about probably says something about reality, at least I find reading it serves some kind of beneficial therapeutic function.
I read it every day, and I recommend it.
Source: Facebook
24 April 2026
Our campaign to free political prisoners who are mothers with underage children continues!
Source: Facebook
Translated by Nina dePalma
