On October 29, Russia commemorates the victims of political repression. On the eve of the official remembrance day, participants in the Return of the Names initiative read aloud the names of people executed or killed under Soviet rule. In 2026, that act of remembrance has a present-day counterpart: human rights defenders are once again compiling lists of people who died as a result of political persecution.
The Memorial Political Prisoners Support project has published a report titled “Before They Could Be Free.” It documents 69 people who died since February 2022 while imprisoned, during searches, under house arrest or shortly after their release. This is neither a count of every victim of repression in Russia nor a mortality figure for the prison population as a whole. It is a record of individually documented cases within the researchers’ defined scope.
When Punishment for Speech Becomes a Threat to Life
Russia’s system of political persecution predates the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Criminal cases against opposition figures, restrictions on public gatherings, and pressure on independent newsrooms and human rights organizations gradually made dissent increasingly dangerous. Since February 2022, the machinery of repression has expanded, with prosecutions for anti-war statements becoming routine.
Two things must be distinguished: the number of people facing politically motivated criminal proceedings and the fate of those who died after being deprived of their liberty or subjected to violence by security forces. Memorial’s report examines the latter. It also shows where the broader chain of persecution can lead when courts, investigators and prison authorities cease to function as independent safeguards for individuals.
Sixty-Nine Names
The dead include 63 men and six women. According to Memorial, four died in 2022, ten in 2023, 26 in 2024 and 13 in 2025. Another 16 deaths were documented in the first ten months of 2026. The youngest were two 18-year-old Ukrainians, Daniil Dakhov and Pavel Grimak, from occupied Melitopol. The oldest was 81-year-old scientist Valery Mitko.
These figures should not be mistaken for a comprehensive register. In particular, the report does not cover all Ukrainian civilians held by Russian forces outside formal criminal proceedings. Reliable public information about many of them is unavailable. The figure of 69 is therefore a documented minimum under the researchers’ methodology, not the full extent of the losses.
When Illness Becomes a Death Sentence
At least 29 people died of medical causes, according to the report, including illness, lack of medical care or treatment provided too late. A criminal sentence does not formally extinguish a person’s right to healthcare. In practice, however, decisions about hospitalization, examinations or the release of a gravely ill prisoner depend on the same system that holds them in custody.
Oleg Tyryshkin’s case illustrates the consequences. Convicted over a comment on VKontakte, he was unable to stand during a court hearing by video link and lay on the floor of his cell. A detention-center paramedic nevertheless told the court that his medical indicators were normal. Tyryshkin subsequently died after a heart attack. These circumstances are described in the human rights report.
Another case is that of Sergei Sviridov, who had progressive cancer. Courts in Krasnoyarsk repeatedly refused to release him, citing, among other reasons, the absence of anyone who could care for him outside prison. He was transferred to a hospice only after falling into a coma and died two weeks later. The question in cases like these is not merely the diagnosis, but why the severity of the illness did not lead to timely action.
Torture, Closed Institutions and Unanswered Questions
Memorial links at least 20 deaths to beatings, torture and their consequences. Those who died include Ukrainians, among them prisoners of war and residents of occupied territories, as well as a Polish citizen abducted in Ukraine by Russian security forces. This is another dimension of repression: political violence extends beyond criminal prosecutions in Russia to people who have come under the control of Russian forces.
Researchers classified another ten deaths as suspected suicides or cases involving similar circumstances. It would be wrong to describe every one of them as a proven suicide. Given the secrecy surrounding detention facilities and the absence of independent investigations, torture or violence cannot confidently be ruled out. The causes of eight further deaths remained unknown when the report was published.
Navalny and Kushnir: Two Different Stories
On February 16, 2024, opposition politician Alexei Navalny died in a maximum-security penal colony after surviving poisoning, returning to Russia, being arrested and spending years behind bars. The authors of Memorial’s report characterize his death as an intentional killing. That is a human rights assessment and should be distinguished from the findings of an independent judicial investigation.
Pianist Pavel Kushnir, an outspoken opponent of the war, died in detention in 2024 following a prolonged protest hunger strike. The circumstances of his death differ from Navalny’s, but both cases reveal the extreme vulnerability of people entirely dependent on the authorities controlling their detention.
Behind every case lies not only a life story but also a sequence of decisions: to arrest someone, keep them in custody, reject a complaint, refuse to change a detention order or fail to provide essential medical care. No single decision necessarily proves that a particular official committed a crime. But accountability for the outcome cannot be established without examining the entire sequence.
Responsibility Extends Beyond Prison Walls
Memorial argues that responsibility for the deaths of political prisoners rests not only with those who directly inflicted violence or withheld care, but also with investigators, judges, prison-system leaders and the Russian authorities. This assessment explains why the problem cannot be reduced to an individual abusive guard or negligent prison doctor.
A state that deprives someone of liberty assumes a duty to protect that person’s life and health. The prohibition of torture admits no exception based on political beliefs, the nature of an accusation or detention conditions. The obligation to investigate suspicious deaths effectively does not disappear when an official explanation has already been issued. For bereaved families, the right to know how a loved one died is not a formality; it is part of their right to a remedy.
Remembering the Past, Answering for the Present
The Return of the Names initiative emerged as a way to restore individual identities to people whom state violence had reduced to case numbers and entries in archival lists. Memorial’s new report forces readers to confront names from this century as well. Its pages bring together a young Ukrainian, an elderly scientist, a musician, an opposition politician and a person living with a severe illness.
That is the central message of October 29, 2026. Remembering political repression cannot stop at condemning long-dead leaders and long-closed camps. It demands attention to people imprisoned today: their health complaints, conditions of confinement, access to lawyers and loved ones, and the circumstances of every new death. Otherwise, “never again” will remain little more than a phrase recited at a memorial ceremony.
FACTUM.press covers these cases as part of its Political Persecution section, documenting the people and the human cost behind the figures.