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Another inmate attacked activist Darya Polyudova, who is serving her sentence in a penal colony, and tried to strangle her. This was reported by the ‘Open Space’ project.
The project added that Polyudova’s lawyer plans to visit her in the colony in the near future. Details of the incident are unknown.
In December 2022, Polyudova was sentenced to nine years in a general regime penal colony on charges of creating an extremist community (part 1, article 282.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) and two episodes of justifying terrorism online (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). In April 2023, the sentence was upheld.
In summer 2023, Polyudova was transferred from a Moscow remand centre to a penal colony in Kabardino-Balkaria, a region in the North Caucasus. In spring 2024, she was moved to IK-8 in Kostroma, a city in central Russia, where she was supposed to remain under strict conditions until July of that year.
According to law enforcement, Polyudova created ‘Left Resistance’ to “publicly justify terrorism and publicly call for extremist activity.” The investigation considered the community’s activities to be holding pickets and making posts on social media.
The posts that became grounds for the prosecution referred to the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea and pickets in support of Crimean Tatar activists—those prosecuted over alleged involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir. One of the posts was entitled: “Execute the traitor Putler for treason!”
The current sentence took into account Polyudova’s previous conviction, which was handed down in May 2021—six years in a penal colony. She was then found guilty of two episodes: for a repost on VKontakte (justifying terrorism online, part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code), and for statements about the 2019 shooting at Lubyanka (calls for extremist activity, part 1, article 280 of the Criminal Code). The activist has been imprisoned since January 2020.
In August 2023 it emerged that Polyudova had been moved to strict detention conditions. After this, the activist was out of touch with her loved ones for almost six months. In January, she was placed in a punishment cell (SHIZO), with the authorities citing repairs to her regular cell. The activist also reported that she had been beaten by a cellmate for criticising Putin.
27 August IK-8 in Kostroma introduced a rule that inmates are now permitted only one 15-minute phone call per week. Because of this, Darya Polyudova cannot speak to her lawyer. This was reported to OVD-Info by a volunteer who is corresponding with her.
Previously, prisoners were able to call several numbers per week, as long as they stayed within the 15-minute total limit. In this way, Polyudova could speak to her mother, lawyer and friends within one week, dividing her 15 minutes across several calls.
Now, the activist is allowed only one call per week—to either her mother or her lawyer—and can no longer call her friends.
Polyudova uses her allotted phone time to speak with her mother, as her father died earlier this year. As a result, she is unable to contact her lawyer.
Support the activist and send her a letter via our free ‘Vestochka’ service:
156009, Kostroma, Posyolok Vasilievskoe, IK-8, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Kostroma region, Darya Vladimirovna Polyudova, born 1989