Press Release, 12.04.2024

Photo: Maria Ponomarenko / Photo from social media

In March 2024, Anna Cherepanova, a Yabloko deputy in the Novgorod City Duma, appealed to Public Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Arkady Gostev and Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova with a demand to deal with violations of women’s rights in penal colonies in the Altai and Krasnoyarsk territories. The violations became known from a letter from political prisoner Maria Ponomarenko. Maria is a persistent fighter, she does not give up even in detention, she defends the rights of convicts, writes complaints, and demands humane treatment, Anna Cherepanova says.

The response of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Krasnoyarsk Territory runs that they conducted an inspection and found out that the daily routine and the rights of convicts to rest and personal time were respected. The Public Prosecutor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory for supervision of compliance with the law in correctional institutions, Vasily Mayorov, suggested applying for a personal meeting to receive clarification and reasons for the decision.

The Federal Penitentiary Service in the Altai Territory reported that the rights of women prisoners to food, clothing and footwear were not violated, and living conditions met sanitary requirements. The of involving women in free work on the improvement of penal colonies and in the surrounding areas was confirmed. However, this possibility is provided for by the Penal Code of the RF, which means that such works, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service, are lawful. At the same time, there was no reaction on the complaint about involvement of women with serious illnesses in such work. Information about insults to female convicts by prison staff was not confirmed. Also the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Altai Territory did not answer anything about the absence of doctors on duty in the colonies in the evening and at night.

However, convicts die and are subjected to torture in the system of penal colonies and pre-trial detention centres in Russia. Alexei Navalny died in the Kharpa penal colony on 16 February, and Alexander Demidenko, a volunteer from Belgorod who helped Ukrainian refugees, passed away on 5 April. He was arrested six months ago, and when he was transferred to a pre-trial detention centre, traces of torture were discovered.

The Yabloko party stands for the humanisation of the penitentiary system, observance of the rights and preservation of human dignity of convicts in penal colonies and pre-trial detention centres. “The Novgorod branch of Yabloko will continue to respond to complaints received from convicts in prison. People everywhere should remain people,” Anna Cherepanova says.