Nikolai Zyuzev
Nikolai Zyuzev, born 1956, Komi Republic. Charges: Article 275.1, Russian Criminal Code (Confidential cooperation with foreigners); “The case of Nikolai Zyuzev regarding confidential co-operation”. Sentenced on September 16, 2026. Status: imprisoned. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, December 3, 2025.
In brief
Komi Republic · Syktyvkar · Teachers, Scientists
Sentence
7 years
Imprisonment (strict regime)
No information about an appeal ruling.
Charges
- Article 275.1, Russian Criminal Code — Confidential cooperation with foreigners
Full wording of the charges
Details of the case are unknown
Latest event
September 16, 2026 — first-instance verdict
The court delivered a guilty verdict: 7 years.
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, December 3, 2025
FACTUM stories
September 17, 2026
Seven Years for Treason: What the Closed Trial of Philosopher Nikolai Zyuzev Left Unanswered
A 70-year-old scholar of Pitirim Sorokin was sentenced to seven years for high treason after a closed trial in Komi. The sentence itself is legally explicable. What the published record does not show is how his research, conferences and grants became a crime against the state.
Timeline
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 7 years
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Persecution begins
The case of Nikolai Zyuzev regarding confidential co-operation
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Criminal case
The case of Nikolai Zyuzev regarding confidential co-operation
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Details and sources
Full summary
Doctor of Philosophy, researcher of Pitirim Sorokin's work. Graduated from the Philological Faculty of Syktyvkar State University. He received his philosophical education in postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University. He taught at the Komi State Pedagogical Institute (1995-2011), Syktyvkar State University (2010-2011), and headed the Department of Philosophy at Ukhta State University (2006-2009). In 2005-2006, he interned at Harvard University (USA) as a professor. In 2013, he received a law degree from Everest College (Toronto, Canada). From 2012 to 2015, he taught at Massey College (University of Toronto, Canada).
In 2015, he obtained Canadian citizenship and returned to Syktyvkar. From 2015 to 2022, Zyuzev was a professor at the Department of Cultural Studies and Pedagogical Anthropology at the P. Sorokin Syktyvk State University. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he left again for Canada, but sometimes returned to his native village in the Kortkerossky district of Komi.
At the end of June 2025, Zyuzev was taken into custody in a case of confidential cooperation with a representative of a foreign state. The details of the case are unknown.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Canada, Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 275.1, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.