Switch Language

On 30 December 2025, the Engels District Court of Saratov Region placed former “Gulagu.net” coordinator Boris Ushakov in custody, according to the court decision published on the court’s website.

The human rights defender was arrested in connection with charges of insulting a government official (Article 319 of the Criminal Code) and threatening violence against the same official (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, on the evening of 26 August 2025 at a bus stop, Ushakov encountered a local police officer named Chertikhin and during their conversation began to insult and threaten him.

The case was opened back in October, but at that time only a travel restriction order and a pledge of proper behaviour were imposed on the human rights defender. In December, the investigator requested tougher pre-trial restrictions, accusing Ushakov of dragging out the process of reviewing the case materials and violating the travel restrictions. According to the investigator, the human rights defender was not living at his registered address, was not answering calls, disrupted investigative actions—“including by means of self-harm”—and refused to sign procedural documents.

The human rights defender is currently being held in Saratov SIZO-1 (a pre-trial detention centre in the city of Saratov, south-western Russia). Recently, an acquaintance reported that on 19 January Ushakov began a hunger strike. According to the acquaintance, the human rights defender was protesting against the spoilage and substitution of products and hygiene items bought by his sister for cheaper and lower-quality alternatives. In addition, Ushakov swallowed several metal objects, including a paperclip, as a sign of protest after being taken to review his case materials without a lawyer. Afterwards, he was given three days in solitary confinement.

Ushakov’s acquaintance published a statement from the radiology department at Engels Hospital No. 1 (Engels is a city in Saratov Region), based on an X-ray. It stated that the X-ray image of the abdominal cavity showed at least five foreign objects: one of these is thought to be the tip of a ballpoint pen, another a paperclip.

Ushakov’s sister told OVD-Info that he has already ended his hunger strike. According to her, the human rights defender needs surgery to remove the paperclip from his intestine.

  • In autumn 2024, Ushakov reported that a case had been opened against him for insulting a government official (Article 319 of the Criminal Code). At that time, he was accused of insulting an employee of Ufa Penal Colony No. 9 (Ufa is the capital of Bashkortostan in the Urals region). Previously, Ushakov had spoken on his YouTube channel about the use of violence against prisoners at this correctional facility. He also visited Penal Colony No. 9 in person to file a crime report.
  • It is unclear whether this case is still being investigated. Ushakov has linked both cases to his human rights work.
  • Previously, Ushakov was a defendant in a case concerning the rape of a former female investigator. In January 2022, the court acquitted the human rights defender.