Russian activist and political prisoner Mikhail Kriger has not been released from a punitive isolation cell (SHIZO) after serving his disciplinary term. The prison administration claims he remains there “for his own safety,” allegedly due to threats from other inmates. However, Kriger himself has never reported any threats or mistreatment and insists that the real purpose is to isolate him from other prisoners. In protest, Kriger has declared a hunger strike, demanding to be returned to the general barracks.
“After the end of his third term in SHIZO, he was sent to solitary confinement for 90 days under the pretext that ‘he’s in danger.’ But he told his lawyer there’s no danger at all — they just want to isolate him because of his views and to keep him from communicating with others. My father has never complained about his cellmates.
In fact, this ‘solitary cell’ is the same SHIZO — only with the bed folded down, which leaves even less space to walk. Apparently, he lay down on that folded bed, and for that, he was punished again with another SHIZO term. The bed was simply locked up, and that was enough for a new punishment. This latest SHIZO is supposed to end on October 9. My father has gone on a hunger strike, according to his lawyer — at least until October 9. If they return him to the barracks, he’ll start eating again.
It’s absurd — if someone were really threatened with violence, they wouldn’t go on a hunger strike just to be returned to their alleged attackers…”
— wrote his daughter Katya Kriger on Facebook.
According to her previous posts, Mikhail Kriger was earlier placed in SHIZO in early September — on the very day he was scheduled to have a visit with his daughter — and also in early August. He has repeatedly complained that while he receives incoming letters, the prison administration does not send out his replies.
Mikhail Kriger is a Moscow opposition activist and former deputy of the Tagansky District Council. He regularly supported political prisoners, took part in protests and pickets, and in his final courtroom statement spoke in defense of Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza, both of whom were also imprisoned for political reasons. Since 2014, Kriger has organized anti-war rallies opposing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
In 2023, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of “justifying terrorism,” based on two Facebook posts written back in 2020. Kriger is currently serving his sentence in Correctional Colony No. 5 in the Oryol region.
