Elena Markova

A resident of the Moscow region. On 6 May 2023, she was detained and then taken into custody in connection with the case of the public action involving the launching of balloons with pieces of foil allegedly obstructing air defence systems. She told law enforcers that Vyacheslav Maltsev, the author of the idea of the "revolution" he planned to hold in Russian cities on 5 November 2017, was involved in organising the action. On the night of 1 November 2023, Markova died in custody.

The Mash media outlet claims that after Markova's detention, the corpse of her mother was found in her house, walled up in the shower room. According to the investigation, she continued to receive her mother's pension for several years up to the day of her detention. A case of fraud in receiving payments was opened against Markova. We have no reason to believe that the case was politically motivated, but Novaya Gazeta suggests that the investigation may have deliberately "leaked" information about the corpse after Markova's death, while preventing the dissemination of other information about her - in particular, about the pre-trial detention centre in which she was held.