Sergei Marin

Resident of Saransk, human rights defender. Defends the rights of prisoners and represents their interests in court disputes with representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service. In the 2010s, he was a member of the Public Supervisory Commission of Mordovia for several years and an expert of the Foundation "In Defence of Prisoners' Rights". On his pages in social networks he criticises the Russian authorities and has repeatedly gone to protests. In 2022, he was fined 40,000 rubles under an administrative protocol for discrediting the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of comments in which he condemned the war in Ukraine. In September 2023, Maryin held an anti-war picket, after which the police came to his home. On 24 February 2024, on the second anniversary of the start of full-scale war, Maryin stood in a solitary picket with the inscription "Putin = death = war". He was detained. The next day the court arrested him for three days under the administrative article on disobedience to the police (part 1 of article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The court ruling stated that the police detained the human rights defender to draw up a report on "discrediting" because of a post on VKontakte published on the same day about the death of Alexei Navalny and the anniversary of the beginning of the war. On 19 July 2024, law enforcers came to the home of the human rights defender with sledgehammers, conducted a search and seized all his equipment. A criminal case was opened against him for discrediting the Armed Forces because of the same post. After interrogation, Maryin was released on his own recognisance. In August, the investigator twice elected a preventive measure against Maryin in the form of a signature not to leave. The human rights defender obtained a court ruling that one of these decisions was unjustified. On 25 March 2025, Maryin was sentenced to a year in a penal colony. On 6 February 2026, his punishment was toughened, replacing the place of serving his sentence with a general regime colony, but on 15 April the court of appeal cancelled this decision.