Lawyer Mariya Boncler, who defended political prisoners, has been sentenced to 12 years for treason.

The Kaliningrad Regional Court has sentenced 66-year-old lawyer Mariya Boncler to 12 years in prison for treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). The news was reported by the project 'Word to the Defence'. Prosecutors had requested a 15-year sentence for Boncler.

After the verdict was announced, Boncler spoke about her health:

“I am holding on only thanks to my self-respect. My health is terrible, my legs give out. I fear this will end badly for me. For now, no medical examinations are planned. The staff at the pre-trial detention centre treat me very well. The people there are very worried about the enormous sentence I received. Everyone simply feels sympathy.”

According to the investigation, in 2024, Boncler allegedly gave information about FSB officers, who were investigating criminal cases of treason, espionage and terrorism, to Ukrainian intelligence services. Boncler had defended people accused in these cases. Lawyer Karinna Moskalenko, who represents Boncler, argues that this information was not secret and had previously been mentioned in open court hearings.

The trial was held behind closed doors. Judge Aleksandr Marochkin removed Boncler from the hearings, allowing her to speak only in her final statement. He also removed all three of her contracted lawyers from the proceedings. Boncler requested that her final statement be delivered in an open session, but the court refused.

Boncler was detained on 28 May 2025, after a search of her home. She was initially accused of confidential cooperation with a foreign state (Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code), but in March 2026, the charges were toughened, and she was charged with treason.

While in detention, Boncler has repeatedly faced serious health problems: she has been diagnosed with hypertensive heart disease with a high risk of stroke. However, the necessary medical examinations have not been conducted. In July 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Committee demanded that Boncler be provided with medical care. According to Boncler herself, all three court hearings she appeared at ended with an ambulance being summoned.

Mariya Boncler has been involved in human rights work for over 30 years. In 1995, she founded the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Kaliningrad Region, a region on the Baltic Sea bordering Poland and Lithuania, and later went on to defend activists and political prisoners. Among her clients was Igor Baryshnikov, who was sentenced to seven and a half years in a penal colony in a case over alleged “military fakes.”