Caption: Aleksei Liptser was transferred to a penal colony in Abakan, more than 4,300 kilometres from Moscow, a name that inevitably recalls “Azkaban,” the dark prison from the Harry Potter series. The wordplay is intentional: in fiction, Azkaban symbolizes isolation, fear and systematic psychological destruction. The visual reference highlights the monstrosity of a political system that criminalizes defence lawyers and deliberately dismantles the last safeguards of the rule of law. (The illustration was created with the help of AI.)

ISHR: No Carnival Joke – Putin’s “Dementors” Have Just Taken Navalny’s Youngest Lawyer to “Azkaban”

Two Years After Navalny’s Death: ISHR Calls for the Release of His Lawyers and Access to Independent Medical Care

Map showing the distance of more than 4,300 kilometres between Moscow and Abakan – illustrating the extreme geographical isolation of the imprisoned lawyer Aleksei Liptser.

Exile as a Symbolic Punishment for All Opponents of Putin

Aleksei Liptser was also denied the opportunity to say goodbye to his mother, who was laid to rest in Moscow on 11 September last year. Yelena Liptser, a well-known Moscow human rights lawyer, died unexpectedly at the age of 58.

Unlike Igor Sergunin, Liptser refused to plead guilty and stood firm. According to ISHR/IGFM, it was precisely for this reason that he was subjected in December to an extraordinary prison transfer across Siberia and ultimately exiled to Abakan, more than 4,300 kilometres from Moscow. The transfer serves as a clear warning of what awaits steadfast supporters of Putin’s most prominent rival. According to his family, the seriously ill lawyer was moved for more than a month under extreme winter conditions through at least six transit prisons. “They hunted him across Siberia like a wounded animal,” his relatives stated.

In addition to the grave health risks, contact with his family continues to be systematically obstructed. Although Russian law (Article 73 of the Penal Code) provides that prisoners should be held close to their relatives and allowed regular contact, Liptser’s four-year-old daughter last saw her father in October 2023.

ISHR/IGFM remains in direct contact with his family and has repeatedly provided humanitarian support. The organisation considers the proceedings against Liptser and his colleagues to be politically motivated and part of a targeted campaign of intimidation against the entire Russian legal profession. The aim, according to ISHR/IGFM, is to fully isolate political prisoners and make any meaningful legal defence impossible. Putin once again demonstrates that his pursuit of revenge did not end even after the suspected torture killing of Navalny.

Immediate Release of All Political Prisoners

ISHR/IGFM calls on the German government, the European Union, and international institutions to intensify their efforts for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Russia. It further demands that access to independent doctors and adequate medical care be ensured, that all fabricated and politically motivated charges against lawyers and human rights defenders be dropped, and that international monitoring of detention conditions in Russian penal colonies be established.

The organisation also calls for the expansion of targeted sanctions against those responsible for politically motivated persecution. The death of Alexei Navalny must not mark the end of international attention. Those who defended him must not be forgotten.

In this video, the team of the murdered Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny shows what a typical day in his life looked like. We have added German subtitles to the video. Alexei Navalny’s death is a martyr’s death for the freedom of the Russian people and in opposition to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It followed countless arrests, a poisoning attempt, years of mistreatment and torture in Russian prisons, and ultimately his killing. After Navalny’s death, Russian authorities attempted to suppress public expressions of mourning.