Political Prisoners Have Held Nearly 300 Hunger Strikes in 20 Years; Since the War Began, They Have Been Over Detention Conditions...

Political prisoners have held almost 300 hunger strikes over 20 years; since the start of the war, they have been declared because of detention conditions — a “Vёрстка” investigation

At least 214 Russian political prisoners held 290 hunger strikes in temporary detention centers, pretrial detention centers, and penal colonies between 2005 and March 2026, “Vёрстка” found.

The analysis showed that before 2022, the most common reason for a hunger strike was protest against illegal administrative arrest. The “peaks” in hunger strikes coincided with mass rallies in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022.

After 2022, when hunger strikes were declared, they took place in pretrial detention centers or colonies — no longer to seek a fair hearing, but to demand decent detention conditions or access to medical care. Russian society has become more tolerant of violence: this trend is visible in hunger strikes as well.

“If in 2012 everyone discussed the unprecedentedly harsh sentence — two years in prison for a dance in a church for members of the punk group Pussy Riot — then now, unfortunately, torture of almost every political prisoner and 15-year prison sentences for online correspondence have become routine,” says First Department lawyer Evgeny Smirnov.

“Vёрстка” studied why people in custody go on hunger strike, the conditions under which these protest actions take place, how refusing food harms health and how officers of the Federal Penitentiary Service and other prisoners respond to it, whether medical staff help people come out of hunger strikes properly — and what role media attention plays.

Read in “Vёрстка”’s article whether hunger strikes lead to demands being met and detention conditions improving (with VPN):

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Vёрстка

“From the Inside, It’s Simple: You Have No Other Methods of Struggle.” How Political Prisoners Declare Hunger Strikes and What They Lead To

“Vёрстка” analyzed hunger strikes declared in custody since 2005 and found out what path people go through after refusing food, and sometimes water