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On 22 November, Igor Yakunichev, a resident of Yamalo, who is currently being held at Detention Centre No. 5 in Yekaterinburg (a major city in the Urals), announced a hunger strike for a second time, according to the “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” project.

He filed a lawsuit against the regional prison authorities’ medical unit for prolonged denial of medical assistance, but this claim was returned to him. In his lawsuit, Yakunichev described what was happening as torture. “Memorial” reports that he was advised to file a complaint against the detention facility for unlawful actions, but not specifically for torture.

Yakunichev reports the same health problems as before: a cyst continues to grow on his neck and he still experiences spinal pain (in the 2000s, he shattered two vertebrae and underwent surgery). According to “Memorial,” doctors told the convicted man during a check-up that the growth was shrinking and that he was recovering.

According to Yakunichev’s mother, after he started his hunger strike, he was placed in a special block, meaning solitary confinement. It is cold in the detention centre, with the radiators barely warm. The woman described her son’s condition: “I have seen and know how my son suffers because of his spine. At home, he could look after his health. Over two years in the detention centre his condition certainly hasn’t improved. At the same time, they [the detention centre administration] are deliberately concealing my son’s illness—according to the documents, he is healthy.”

The convicted man first began a hunger strike in early September. He ended it two weeks later, on 23 September, after being promised medical help. In October, he said that treatment had still not commenced.

Join our call for medical assistance for Yakunichev. Send an appeal through the “Dyatel” service, it takes less than a minute.

  • In September 2025, Yakunichev was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony over VKontakte posts from 2022–2023 in which he shared videos by various bloggers about the war in Ukraine: about the killings of civilians in Bucha, the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station, and the Freedom of Russia Legion.
  • The court found him guilty under four articles at once: for “discrediting the army” (Part 1, Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code), “justifying terrorism” (Part 2, Article 205.2), “military ‘fakes’” (Paragraph “d,” Part 2, Article 207.3) and “calls for activity aimed against state security” (Paragraph “v,” Part 2, Article 280.4).
  • Yakunichev said that during his arrest in spring 2023 he was beaten. From April to October 2025, he was also held in solitary confinement. In the summer he reported that the detention centre administration was not delivering letters from his mother or the medication he needs due to his back injury. After complaining to the prosecutor’s office, one of the detention centre staff began threatening him with sexualised violence.