Prison transfer: a relative has been moved and gone silent
The guides below are drafts: a lawyer has not reviewed them yet. This is not legal advice.
Draft What human rights defenders advise
Prison transfer: a relative has been moved and gone silent
- A transfer lasts from a few days to several months; people are usually held up to 20 days at each transit point. There is almost no contact during this time.
- Before the transfer: send food, water, warm clothes, stamped envelopes, reply forms and a sturdy bag.
- The colony must notify a relative within 10 days of the prisoner's arrival (art. 17 of the Penal Code). If you hear nothing, write to the SIZO they left from and to the prison service.
- If the person has 'disappeared', complain to the prosecutor, the regional prison directorate, the monitoring commission and the ombudsman. A lawyer can file inquiries. Publicity sometimes helps, and sometimes the prisoner is punished for it. Decide together with the lawyer and, if possible, with the person themselves.
- Where to turn: Prison Lawyer, Solidarity Zone, First Department.
Ready-made templates and tools
- I have learned about a political prisoner nobody knows about: what to do (in Russian) · First Department (foreign agent) · link checked September 26
current as of 25 September 2026. More: First Department: key facts on prison transfers (foreign agent); First Department: political prisoners 'disappearing' in custody (foreign agent)