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Aleksandr Skobov, a 67-year-old dissident from St Petersburg sentenced to 16 years in prison, has said that since April the conditions of his detention at Syktyvkar Pretrial Detention Centre No. 1 have been made stricter. His wife Olga Shcheglova, who visited him on 17 June, shared his words today, published by Skobov’s support group.
According to Shcheglova, initially these harsher conditions “were seen in small things”: at the parcel delivery point, food and cigarettes were being broken up, and the shop inside the pretrial detention centre where it was possible to buy whole cigarettes and other essentials “that reached the detainee in more or less decent shape” was closed. The administration also reduced family visits from one hour to 15 minutes, and for detainees without televisions in their cells, news was effectively no longer aired on the radio.
In April, Skobov and another defendant in a politically motivated case were assigned cellmates who had previously been convicted of sexual offences.
“This is a particular caste in places of detention, and contact with them is considered unacceptable according to the ‘rules.’ Aleksandr Valeryevich himself doesn’t care—he doesn’t play these games—but his cellmates, afraid their reputation in the penal colony would be damaged, were outraged,” Olga Shcheglova added.
The dissident has also been frequently moved from one cell to another without explanation. This resulted in him being placed in a cell with three others, two of whom have mental health problems.
“One of them, in particular, is a completely neglected and ‘unsanitary’ type,” noted Aleksandr Skobov’s wife.
On one occasion, a guard was unhappy with the way Skobov greeted him.
“Skobov was stripped, searched, and supposedly a razor blade was ‘found’ in his clothes. This simply could not have happened: Aleksandr Valeryevich would not use such items—he can’t see. As a result, he was placed, unclothed, for six hours in a special room ‘for the unruly’—a closet two by one and a half metres, its walls covered with rubberised fabric, and with no furniture. He didn’t catch cold only because he kept exercising, fuelled by adrenaline,” said the dissident’s wife.
According to her, after this incident Skobov was sent to this room again—also due to an ‘improper greeting.’ However, the next time he was there for three hours and kept his clothes on.
“Despite his stubbornness, it should be said that Skobov has not once ended up in the punishment cell. Such is the system’s ‘humanity,’” concluded Olga Shcheglova.
In March, the 1st Western District Military Court sentenced Skobov to 16 years in prison and a fine of 300,000 roubles (US$3,200) on charges of justifying terrorism (Part 2, Art. 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code) and participating in a terrorist organisation (Part 2, Art. 205.4). The first three years he must serve in prison, with the remainder in a strict regime penal colony. He has also been banned for three years from administering web resources. In June, the court upheld the sentence in appeal.
The dissident was accused of two episodes of justifying terrorism for his posts: one concerned the explosion on the Crimean Bridge, and the other showed support for Darya Trepova, convicted over the bombing that killed propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky.
He was charged under the article relating to a terrorist organisation because of participation in the ‘Free Russia Forum’—a discussion platform created abroad by Russian opposition figures.
Skobov has been held in custody since April 2024. Although he lives in St Petersburg and was detained there, he was transferred to pretrial detention in Syktyvkar, a city in the Komi Republic in northern Russia.