Key news on repression in Russia and against those who left: political prisoners, verdicts, new designations. Every item links to its source. Updated morning and evening.
updated October 3 · RSSAccording to Nasha Niva, cited by Mediazona Belarus, Minsk's Pershamaiski District Court convicted Oksana Marinina under Articles 368 and 342 of the Criminal Code and sentenced her to restricted freedom at home; the exact term is unknown.
According to the Slovo Zashchite project, Kynev was diagnosed with two tibia fractures, allegedly the result of torture. His lawyer could neither confirm nor deny the reports of violence.
Maksimova heads the Russian Democratic Society in the UK. The FSB claims she raised money through the movement "in the interests of the Kyiv regime". She was put on the wanted list on 16 September.
According to Viasna, the Minsk City Court handed down the sentence on 14 September. The charges include conspiracy to seize power and membership of a terrorist organisation.
Nalimova says investigators claim that with a voice message leaked to a pro-government Telegram channel she sought to undermine the authority of the regional parliament. She says the case contains no evidence of harm.
According to Reform.news, 25 political prisoners were freed on 16 September and all were forcibly taken to Lithuania. Nine applied for international protection in Warsaw and one in Bialystok.
The editor-in-chief announced the closure. Earlier, three staff members of the Individuum and Popcorn Books publishers were given four-year suspended sentences in the "international LGBT movement" case.
According to Turkmen.news, Serdar Berdymukhamedov signed the pardon decree for the 35th anniversary of independence on 25 September. Those freed include no political prisoners and no Baluch.
According to Current Time, a mother and son left in 2022 and collected aid for Ukrainians in emigration; in Russia they face criminal prosecution. They were refused asylum and are suing the migration agency.
According to Mediazona, Kyshtym City Court has received reports against him for not filing a “foreign agent” report with the Justice Ministry (Art. 19.34(2) of the Administrative Code) and for involvement with an “undesirable” organisation (Art. 20.33).
According to Reform.news, citing the man himself, a phone check found subscriptions to two YouTube channels designated “extremist materials”. He spent three days in a temporary detention centre before a court fined him.
In a letter to her mother published by Novaya Gazeta, Berkovich says penal colony No. 3 in Kostroma region punished her for trying to bring three sweets to work and for not introducing herself in full to staff.
Mikheev says that on 25 September he was driven to the Armenian border, where he was held on a wanted notice at Minsk's request. Rights defender Roman Kisliak calls it in effect an enforced disappearance.
According to Nasha Niva, the woman was convicted of “facilitating extremist activity” and “calls for sanctions”. Her sentence is not yet known; she remains behind bars.
According to the rights project ZPCh, the founder of the Sandarmokh memorial, serving 15 years, was urgently moved from penal colony No. 18 in Mordovia to a prison medical facility. A lawyer will try to visit him on 26 September.
According to the Viasna human rights centre, Minsk City Court gave Sviatoslau Padvashetski 13 years in an enhanced-security colony on treason and drug charges. The trial was held behind closed doors.
According to Nasha Niva, a 50-year-old MTBank employee was convicted by Minsk City Court of inciting hatred over social media posts criticising Russia’s aggression. His sentence is unknown; he is in custody.
A court jailed the admin of the “Urals Chat” Telegram group for 10 days over two posts showing the flag of a movement the FSB listed as terrorist in 2025. It is the first known such case, 7x7 reports.
Abgul Suleymanov’s family link his administrative detention to his posts against restrictions on schoolgirls wearing the hijab. Police and the court gave no public reason, JAMnews reports, citing Meydan TV.
A Moscow court sent the elections expert, already labelled a “foreign agent”, to pre-trial detention on a large-scale drug dealing charge carrying up to 20 years. He denies it.
A district court remanded the lawyer in custody on charges of “justifying terrorism” over a social media post.
The Justice Ministry added the news YouTube channel, which has more than 3 million subscribers, to its register of “foreign agents”.
A court in Ivanovo ordered the arrest in absentia of the 53-year-old blogger on charges of spreading army “fakes” and evading “foreign agent” obligations.
The Southern District Military Court convicted them of plotting attacks on Russian-installed officials.
The Tula regional court sentenced them for setting fire to a trackside equipment cabinet.
Equipment used at Russian border checks can pull call history and contact lists from travellers’ phones over Bluetooth.
Lukashenko's press office announced the decree on 24 September: most of those pardoned, 10 people, are women. The press office claims all of them had petitioned for a pardon.
The imprisoned lawyer and former Volgograd university lecturer has suffered a sharp decline in vision, and doctors refuse to treat him, OVD-Info reports.
Human rights defenders say the 58-year-old political prisoner is in a critical state in a prison hospital in the Arkhangelsk region.
Artyom Kosolapov had been held in immigration detention in Arkansas since late August. Bail was set at $15,000; he still faces possible deportation.
Nadezhda Esina, 67, was convicted over donations to the “Vozrozhdenie” church.
A military court convicted a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old on terrorism and treason charges for throwing Molotov cocktails at a military unit; the vehicles were not damaged.
The St Petersburg City Court gave Oksana Ronzhes and Artyom Sakharov 13 years each: they were accused of filming power lines and the area near a military airfield on the orders of Ukraine's GUR.
The Interior Ministry is seeking Zhilin, who lives abroad, in a case of financing FBK. By Mediazona's count, 167 sentences have already been handed down in such cases.
A case for calls to act against state security has been opened against the journalist, who was designated a "foreign agent" in spring 2026.
According to Tonya Egorova, her father was detained on 15 September and tortured to make him confess to setting fire to a cell tower.
Defendants in the case of a burnt car belonging to an officer's wife told the court they were beaten during arrest and questioned without a defence lawyer.
Since June the number of minors on the list of "terrorists and extremists" has grown by 53. The youngest person on it was born in 2012.
Kazakhstan has finally refused asylum to the Navalny team member, and she may now be handed over to Russia.
Olga and Nikita Belov, whom the authorities wanted to deport to Russia in the spring, have been granted asylum in Finland.