Human Rights

Prisoner of Conscience: Dmitry Ivanov

Dmitry Ivanov

In March 2023 Dmitry Ivanov, a Russian student activist, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian army, “motivated by political or ideological hatred”.

Ivanov, a 23-year-old IT student at Moscow State University, was charged because of some posts on his Telegram channel, Protest MSU. According to the prosecution, his social media messages used the word “war” instead of a “special military operation,” as the Kremlin insists on calling the conflict, and talked about the Russian army’s attacks on civilians and other war crimes in Ukraine. Most were articles and reposts from other sources.

“Dmitry Ivanov’s case is another demonstration of the brutal repression of anti-war dissent by Russian authorities,” said Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, in a statement issued after the verdict was announced. “It shows that anyone who alleges Russian forces have committed war crimes will pay for it with years behind bars.”

Shortly after Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the state introduced a new law under which anyone who condemns the war could face up to 15 years in jail. Since then, Russia has used this new legislation to arrest dozens in an effort to silence any dissent.

Initially Ivanov was sentenced to 35 days in jail on a different charge and was about to be released on June 2, 2022. Instead, he was charged over the social media posts. Police also searched the apartment of Ivanov’s parents and later questioned them as witnesses for the prosecution.

In court Ivanov rejected the charges. “The investigation, in trying to accuse me of spreading ‘fakes,’ has built one big fake (itself). Literally the entire indictment, from the first to the very last word, contradicts reality,” Ivanov said during a court hearing in March 2023, which was cited by the Associated Press. “I, in the meantime, stand by every word I wrote a year ago.”

Since Ivanov’s arrest and conviction, a number of human rights organisations have condemned his sentence and called for his immediate release.

“Dmitry Ivanov is a prisoner of conscience. He and all those prosecuted and convicted for speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be immediately and unconditionally released, and all charges against them dropped,” said Zviagina. “The articles criminalizing criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be repealed as violating the right to freedom of expression.”

Despite his harsh sentence, Ivanov has not been deterred from voicing his opposition to the war, saying that the world “must understand that Russia is not Putin.”

“Tens of millions of Russians are against this war. Many have relatives in Ukraine, and they feel their pain. This is a dark moment in our history, but the darkest moment always comes before dawn,” Ivanov told journalist during his last court hearing.

Disclaimer:  As of December 1, 2023, Dmitry Ivanov is still in custody, serving his sentence.

We feature select few prisoners of conscience out of the many in East and Southeast Europe. One political prisoner is one too many. 

Find out who the other political prisoners are #PrisonersofConscience  #FreeThemAll and in the special Focus on our website.