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Taisia Osipova

At largeChecked against the source: September 5, 2026, 6:09 AM
Criminal Code
Article 228 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code
Verdict
Imprisonment (general regime)
Sentence
8 years
Date of verdict
2011-12-27
Region
Smolensk Oblast
City
Smolensk

Case summary

Taisiya Osipova is an activist of the Smolensk branch of "Other Russia". On 23 November 2010, her house was searched with the participation of an employee of the Centre for Combating Extremism, who was actively interested in the fate of Osipova's husband, Sergey Fomchenkov, who was preparing documents for the registration of "Other Russia" with the Ministry of Justice. In the course of the search, five packages with an unknown substance and a labelled 500-ruble note were found. According to the investigation, Osipova sold drugs to a lady whose real name is unknown (she appeared in court as a classified witness), and the lady handed over the substances to the operatives as part of the so-called "control purchases". Osipova, her family and friends are convinced that the drugs were planted on her. On 25 November 2010 Osipova was arrested. The court continuously extended her detention despite the fact that Osipova suffers from diabetes and has a young daughter. On 29 December 2011, Osipova was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. On 15 February 2012, the sentence was overturned and the case was sent for review, with Osipova remaining in pre-trial detention. On 28 August 2012, she was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, although the prosecutor requested four years and the episode with the alleged drugs stored at her home was excluded from the case due to procedural violations during the search.

On 28 February 2017, she was released on parole

Others charged under Article 228 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code

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Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database

Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.

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