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The Leninsky District Court of Vladivostok has rejected a petition for the early release of former Communist Party (KPRF) regional deputy for Primorye, Artyom Samsonov. The news was reported by Samsonov’s lawyer Natalya Kasilova and the TOR Telegram channel.
The petition to release Samsonov had been submitted by the hospital of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for Primorye. The facility confirmed that the prisoner has been diagnosed with an oncological illness included in the official list of conditions that prohibit further sentence serving. The defence also contacted Tatiana Moskalkova, Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner, asking her to support the release.
The court has not yet announced the reasons for its decision. According to Kasilova, the prosecutor objected to the petition, claiming that Samsonov allegedly does not require constant care from others, and that his illness may be curable. The politician himself and his family have stated that he is not receiving treatment in the penal colony and that the tumour continues to grow.
In January 2025, the deputy underwent a heart valve replacement operation after media coverage and intervention by the KPRF leadership. Earlier, in 2024, doctors discovered a tumour in his chest, but at that time proper treatment was not provided.
In 2022, Samsonov was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony on charges of child molestation (paragraph ‘b,’ part 4, article 132 of the Criminal Code). According to the prosecution, in 2018 he allegedly talked about sex in front of an 11-year-old boy at a holiday camp and showed him a sex toy. The former deputy and his KPRF colleagues believe the case was fabricated in response to his electoral win. The defence pointed out that the object of the accusation only appeared at the camp in 2019, when Samsonov was not there.
Samsonov is now seeking to be recognised as a political prisoner. In February, the court agreed to consider his claim—this is the first such case in modern Russia.