Press release, 15.11.2017

St. Petersburg parliament voted down a bill obliging prison administrations to immediately inform prisoners’ relatives on their transfer to a colony. The bill was introduced by the Yabloko faction. The initiative was supported by 11 deputies out of 50.

Yabloko claims that relatives must be provided with information on an inmate’s location as soon as possible. Moreover, according to the active law, an inmate serves a sentence in correctional facilities of the region where he/she lived or was convicted. However, inmates can be transferred to a colony situated in other regions of the country for medical reasons or in order to protect their personal safety. Yabloko proposes that an inmate can be transferred to another region only with his/her consent.

The bill was initiated by Emilia Slabunova, Yabloko Chair and deputy of the Karelian parliament, and submitted to the regional parliaments of St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia and the Pskov Region.

It has been an issue for a long time but it became more relevant after dissident Ildar Dadin’s case. In early December 2016, Ildar Dadin, the first Russian to be convicted of repeatedly violating the law on unauthorized demonstrations, was transferred from the penal colony in Karelia after complaints about tortures. His relatives had no information on his location for over a month.

The bill initiated by Yabloko obliges the prison administration to inform relatives about the colony where an inmate will be transferred within three days. At the moment the time limits are not determined.