Sergei Marin

A resident of Saransk, human rights defender. Defends the rights of prisoners and represents their interests in court disputes with representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service. In the 2010s, he was a member of the Public Supervisory Commission of Mordovia for several years and an expert of the Foundation "In Defence of Prisoners' Rights". In his accounts in social networks Sergei criticises the Russian authorities and has repeatedly gone to protests. In 2022, he was fined 40,000 rubles under an administrative protocol for discrediting the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of comments in which he condemned the war in Ukraine. In September 2023, Marin held an anti-war picket, after which the police came to his home. On 24 February 2024, on the second anniversary of the start of full-scale war, Sergei stood in a solitary picket with the inscription "Putin = death = war". He was detained. The next day the court arrested him for three days under the administrative article on failure to comply with police (Part 1, Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The court ruling stated that the police detained the human rights defender to draw a report on "discrediting the Armed Forces" because of a post on VKontakte about the death of Alexei Navalny and the anniversary of the beginning of the war published on the same day. On 19 July 2024, law enforcement came to his home with sledgehammers, conducted a search and seized all his equipment. A criminal case was opened against him for discrediting the Armed Forces because of the same post. After interrogation, Marin was released on recognisance not to leave. In August, the investigator elected a preventive measure against Marin in the form of a signature not to leave twice. The human rights defender obtained a court ruling that one of these decisions was unjustified. On 25 March 2025, Maryin was sentenced to a year in an open prison.