Press Release, 28.09.2026

Photo: Yuri Dmitriev in the penal colony / Photo by ZPCh on Telegram

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov has sent an appeal to Yana Lantratova, the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, demanding that 70-year-old historian and human rights defender Yuri Dmitriev be urgently transferred to a civilian hospital. Dmitriev is serving his sentence in penal colony IK-18 in Mordovia. Following a sharp deterioration in his health, he was rushed to the medical penal facility LIU-3 with a suspected stroke.

On 26 September, a lawyer who had arrived at LIU-3 was denied access to his client. He was told that Dmitriev was at the facility, but the only information given about his condition was: “He is alive”.

Of particular concern is the fact that, according to available information, there are no doctors at LIU-3 at weekends, with only a paramedic on duty. With a suspected stroke, Dmitriev requires urgent specialist medical care.

“I ask you to take immediate measures to have Yu. A. Dmitriev transferred to a civilian hospital with specialist doctors and the necessary medical equipment,” Rybakov’s appeal to Lantratova runs.

Yabloko stresses that any delay poses a threat to Dmitriev’s life and health. The party demands that the federal ombudsperson intervene without delay and ensure that Dmitriev receives qualified medical care and has access to his lawyer.

Yuri Dmitriev is a historian and human rights defender who uncovered mass burial sites of victims of Stalin’s repressions and created the memorial at Sandarmokh in Karelia. He has long complained of his deteriorating health but, by all appearances, has not received the necessary treatment.

In 2020, Dmitriev was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment, and a later ruling in December 2021 raised it to 15 years. Human rights defenders and his associates link his criminal prosecution to his work commemorating the victims of Stalin’s repressions.