December 2024

What We Achieved Thanks to Your Support

Key Highlights

December is a time of intense work and year-end summaries, and we are no exception. But despite this, for us, it is also marked by important dates. Here’s what stood out in December 2024.

On December 5, we turned 13 years old. OVD-Info is a project that began as an initiative of two friends who wanted to help Muscovites find their friends and relatives in detention centres. At first, it was just updates with lists of names on Facebook, then a website and a hotline, and everything that followed is a story you already know well.

Thirteen years later, OVD-Info is one of the largest human rights media projects in Russia, a full-fledged media outlet, a data department, and even an IT company. But most importantly, OVD-Info has become a “community of communities”, with more than 190,000 donors and over 5,000 volunteers from around the world. Thank you to everyone who reads, recommends, and supports us. Without you, none of this would have happened.

In December, we summarised the repressions of 2024. The results are grim: even more prosecutions for expressing opinions, longer prison sentences, and many schoolchildren behind bars. But it is crucial for us to be aware of this and to inform you. We firmly believe that information protects.

This year, for the first time, we were able to launch “Lifeline” for the New Year, so you could send greetings to politically persecuted people in colonies, prisons, and detention centres. As part of the campaign, we also created a series of postcards—immediately in black and white (since most prisons and colonies have such printers). By the way, you can still attach a postcard to your letter: they are always waiting for you at the bottom of the page.

And now, let’s talk about what we accomplished in December 2024 thanks to your support:

Express Help

Legal Bot and Hotline Activity

In December, 547 calls went through our hotline. In total, our operators spent 21 hours, 24 minutes, and 4 seconds on the phone.

By the end of December, our Telegram bot had 189,539 active users.

Throughout the month, our legal guidelines were viewed 11,711 times. The most popular guide in November was “How to Prepare a Care Package for a Detention Centre, Pretrial Detention Facility, or Prison”, which was read 983 times.

Hotline lawyers in December:

Provided 57 consultations over the phone;
Responded to 20 emails sent to legal@ovdinfo.org;
Reviewed 1 cassation appeal submitted through the complaint generator “Generaptor”;
Held three online and one offline event:
- A security seminar for activists, covering the basics of digital and physical security for those who may face persecution due to their human rights work;
- A seminar for the Elena Bonner Human Rights School: OVD-Info lawyers Elena Makarova, Valeria Vetoshkina, and Yulia Shirina gave a lecture on violations of LGBTQ+ rights, methods of legal protection, and updates on repressive legislation in this area;
- A seminar for the Sergey Sharov-Delone Public Defender School, where we conducted workshops on administrative proceedings and legal defence in police departments and courts. OVD-Info lawyers also informed school participants about the protection of minors' rights in cases related to political persecution;
- As part of “Human Rights Week”, we held a seminar in Budva, Montenegro — OVD-Info lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina, in collaboration with the organization QueerMe, discussed why LGBTQ+ does not equal extremism and how queer individuals can maximize their safety in Russia and beyond.

Administrative Cases and Assistance in Police Stations

In December, our lawyers and defenders:

Represented 13 people in 17 administrative cases across 18 court hearings in 7 cities: Dzhankoy, Yekaterinburg, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, and Chita;
Filed 5 appeals and 1 cassation to the Supreme Court;
Made 5 visits to police departments to assist detainees and helped 5 people in Moscow and Yekaterinburg;
Achieved the dismissal of one administrative case.

Criminal Cases

In December, OVD-Info lawyers:

Took on 3 new criminal cases, involving 3 defendants:
- The case of spreading military “fakes” — involving Maksim Shchetinkin from Khakassia. He was sentenced to five years and six months in a general-regime penal colony. Shchetinkin was accused of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army out of political hatred, with fabricated evidence (Article 207.3, Part 2, Paragraphs “v” and “d” of the Russian Criminal Code). The court also banned him from administering websites for three years. According to the court, Shchetinkin was accused of «fabricating an article about a Tochka-U missile strike on Kramatorsk by editing a screenshot». He is represented by lawyer Maria Terekhova;
- The case of an anonymous defendant from Khanty-Mansiysk — related to a donation made to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He is represented by lawyer Pavel Rusnakov;
- The case of an anonymous defendant in Voronezh — accused of “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”. He is represented by lawyer Daniil Polyakov.
Participated in 4 appeals:
- One defendant received an additional penalty;
- Two had their sentences upheld without changes;
- One resident of the Ryazan region, who had been convicted for telling a joke about the war in Ukraine, was released from punishment.

We consider all the charges and criminal cases initiated in this context to be unlawful and politically motivated.

News and Media

In December, we prepared and published:

201 express news and updates on political persecution in Russia.
58 reports in our chronicles covering detentions, court cases, and repression for anti-war statements, criticism of the war in Ukraine, pressure on LGBTQ+ individuals, protests against mobilisation, and state persecution under the guise of “morality”.
Two feature pieces on our website: one article and one interview.

Data and Analytics

In December, we prepared and released a comprehensive review of political repression in Russia in 2024.

Unfortunately, there is no good news in it. Just like the previous two years, 2024 for Russian civil society was overshadowed by the ongoing war against Ukraine. Political persecution continued throughout the year inside Russia. The key trends of past years persisted — targeted repression, crackdowns on vulnerable groups, and the adoption of repressive laws. Additionally, one of the most horrifying themes of the year was the deaths of people imprisoned for political reasons: Alexei Navalny was murdered, four more people died in custody, two as a result of their time in detention, and one due to the consequences of their arrest.

International Advocacy

In December, OVD-Info’s international advocacy team submitted a statement to the UN Special Procedures department regarding the deteriorating health of Igor Baryshnikov following surgery in prison.
Additionally, our lawyers attended a meeting with the Czech ambassador in Berlin and participated in a roundtable discussion organised by the European Prison Litigation Network on UN treaty bodies.
We also took part in an exhibition about women political prisoners, organised in cooperation with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, and attended several advocacy meetings. As part of the international campaign “16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence”, OVD-Info lawyers gave a lecture on the health risks faced by women political prisoners in pre-trial detention centres, prisons, and penal colonies.
Our website has a dedicated page on international advocacy, where we share reports, appeals to international institutions, and the outcomes of these efforts.