A political prisoner with a brain tumour has died in a remand centre. Before this, they had reported being beaten.

52-year-old political prisoner Igor Yakovenko has died in Remand Centre No. 1 in Krasnodar, a major city in southern Russia. This was reported by Memorial.

According to the project, Yakovenko had an inoperable brain tumour. Several days before his death, he was examined and then returned to the remand centre “for palliative care”. Even before the verdict, it is reported, he was beaten in the same remand centre.

Yakovenko was sentenced to five years in prison in 2025—he was accused of preparing to join the “Freedom of Russia” Legion. Later, in the penal colony, a further case was opened against him—allegedly for calling to kill “Russian soldiers” in his poems. However, Yakovenko’s relatives doubted that he had actually written the poems. After this, he was transferred to the Krasnodar remand centre.

In prison, Yakovenko began suffering from severe headaches and spikes in blood pressure, and his vision deteriorated. At the same time, according to Memorial, it was not possible to secure a medical examination for him.