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On 8 April, Alexander Shestun, the former head of Serpukhov district in the Moscow region, announced a dry hunger strike. He shared this in a letter published by RusNews.
Since 30 March, Shestun had been on a normal hunger strike. He wrote that he stopped drinking water on 7 April, and the next day officially informed Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) staff about beginning a dry hunger strike.
The politician is currently being held in the Federal Penitentiary Service hospital in Torzhok, Tver region—a town in western Russia. Through his hunger strike, he is demanding:
- an extended visit with his children, which was disrupted at Penal Colony No. 6 in Bezhetsk—a town in the Tver region;
- that he be given the list of appeals made to supervisory authorities, with the dates they were sent;
- urgent medical care and recognition that his previous denial of care was unlawful.
Shestun was told he was brought to the hospital for a medical commission assessment, and that “we can’t treat you.” Meanwhile, he has lost three teeth and another is so shattered it is cutting his mouth and tongue until they bleed.
“Three front teeth were knocked out by Federal Penitentiary Service staff in the Tver region. One tooth was knocked out by Detention Centre No. 1 head Lebedev in 2021; I had a prosthesis put in on a post, but that was also knocked out by staff at Penal Colony No. 6 in Bezhetsk during use of force on 1.12.2025, as were two others,” the politician writes.
According to Shestun, during his hunger strike he has lost seven kilogrammes (about 15 pounds) and has fainted twice, both times injuring his face. He also reminded readers that he has diabetes, “which exacerbates the harm to my health.” He is refusing vitamin C with glucose.
Shestun has repeatedly gone on hunger strike to protest violations of his rights in prison. In December 2025, he slashed his veins in a solitary confinement cell.
He last announced a hunger strike in early March, when he was at Penal Colony No. 6 in Bezhetsk. Federal Penitentiary Service staff interrupted his long visit with his family and sent him to the punishment cell (SHIZO). It is unclear when he ended his previous hunger strike.
The Free 120 campaign, which calls for the release of seriously ill political prisoners, appealed to the human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova, the regional commissioner in Tver, Nadezhda Yegorova, and to journalist Eva Merkacheva, who is a member of the Human Rights Council. Free 120 is calling for an investigation into the politician’s conditions of detention and the provision of medical care to him.
15 April Shestun was discharged from the prison hospital on 10 April, according to his support group’s Telegram channel.
The politician reported that the hospital’s deputy director discharged him for “violating the medical and security regime” by “not following the diet (hunger strike) required for diabetes.”
Shestun was transferred to Detention Centre No. 1 in Tver, a city in western Russia. According to the politician, during the transfer he had to drink water, “otherwise I simply wouldn’t have made it to the prison van.” In the detention centre itself, he was placed in a punishment cell for five days because he dried towels on a bed rail. Shestun noted that the hooks for towels had been torn off.
He also reported new health problems: “In the central wing, I went to the toilet with unbearable pain and passed blood clots in my urine. I am still refusing food, and the total weight lost is now 16 kilogrammes (around 35 pounds).”
- Shestun has been imprisoned since 2018. In 2020, he was sentenced to 15 years in a penal colony on charges of fraud (Part 4, Article 159 of the Criminal Code), accepting a bribe (Part 6, Article 290), illegal business activity (Article 289) and money laundering (subparagraph “b,” Part 4, Article 174.1). Shestun denied all charges and described his prosecution as politically motivated.
- Shortly before his arrest in 2018, the politician recorded a video message in which he spoke about threats from Andrey Vorobyov, the governor of Moscow region. The governor demanded he ban a protest against the “Lesnaya” landfill and not run for re-election. Shestun also released a recording of a conversation with FSB “K” department head Ivan Tkachev, presidential internal policy director Andrey Yarin and head of the regional administration Mikhail Kuznetsov. In the recording, they tried to persuade him to resign.
- In 2022, he was convicted in a new case: for insulting a judge (Part 2, Article 297), insulting a public official (Article 319), and threatening in connection with the administration of justice (Part 1, Article 296). In this case, Shestun admitted to the insults, but not to the threat. Half a year was added to his sentence.