The Number of Women Prosecuted in Political Cases Is Growing in Russia. Their Sentences Are Harsher Than Men’s

The number of women prosecuted in political cases is growing in Russia. Their sentences are harsher than men’s

In 2025, military courts, which hear cases involving treason, espionage, extremism, and terrorism, handed down sentences to 209 women. This is the highest figure since at least 2010, as «Verstka» noted.

The number of sentences under these articles against women rose by 43% last year compared with 2024, according to data provided to «Verstka» by the project «Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial».

The «PPZK Memorial» lists include 1,366 women, 503 of whom are deprived of liberty. According to OVD-Info, at this moment the Russian state is persecuting 825 women in “political” cases, the highest figure for all the years the project has kept statistics. 198 of them are not free.

The sentences Russian courts hand down to women are harsher than those given to men, «PPZK Memorial» concluded. For example, the sentence for “treason” for women is 1 year longer than the statistical average: 12 years and 8 months versus 11 years and 8 months.

“One possible explanation is that there are not that many women political prisoners. And if a decision is made to deprive a woman of her freedom, the system no longer backs down or grants any leniency,” representatives of «PPZK Memorial» say.

Read about how many women political prisoners there are in Russia and under what conditions they are serving their sentences on the «Verstka» website (with VPN):

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