Publications / The Full List Of Russia’s Political Prisoners

In November 2013, the Memorial—Russia’s most respected human rights organisation, founded a quarter-century ago by Andrei Sakharov—published a list of 70 people it considers to be political prisoners.

Among the names included in the list are Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev as well as all those imprisoned in the Yukos case, Bolotnaya Square case defendants, Greenpeace activists (both Russian citizens and foreigners) detained in the Pechora Sea following a protest against drilling for oil in the Arctic, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina – members of the Pussy Riot punk band.

The list goes on and the leaders of the Memorial emphasise that the list of 70 is by no means exhaustive—there are more political prisoners in Russia, but the cases that have been included in the list have been carefully screened and verified using extensive evidence and stringent criteria.

The full list of Russia’s political prisoners (in alphabetical order)