Political prisoner Andrei Trofimov disappears from contact
Andrei Trofimov, a political prisoner who is serving a 13-year sentence in the strict-regime IK-9 Penal Colony in Karelia, has not been heard from since April. He has stopped responding to letters, has made no phone calls, and has not been allowed to meet with a lawyer.
The disappearance was reported by journalist and television presenter Vladimir Raevsky. According to Raevsky, Trofimov had previously maintained an extensive correspondence with friends and members of his support group. Describing him as one of the most sociable people he knows, Raevsky says he finds it difficult to believe the prison administration's claim that the inmate voluntarily cut off all contact.
"Andrei has disappeared. We have had no contact with him since April. He is not answering letters and is not being brought out to see his lawyer," Raevsky wrote.
Prison officials have also claimed that Trofimov already has legal representation. Raevsky rejects this, saying the statement is false. According to him, Trofimov's supporters independently hired a lawyer who travelled to Petrozavodsk, but prison authorities refused to bring the prisoner to the meeting.
The sudden loss of contact has alarmed Raevsky, who says Trofimov had always replied promptly to correspondence. He recalled that the activist remembered important milestones in his friends' lives and once even organised a musical birthday greeting through handwritten letters.
The support group is now appealing for help in establishing Trofimov's whereabouts and condition, and in securing him access to an independent lawyer.
"We desperately need to know that he is safe. If you have any way of finding out what has happened to him, please help," Raevsky said.
Born on 16 September 1966, Trofimov is being held at IK-9, operated by Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) in the Republic of Karelia.
Often described as a "veteran of Moscow's protest movement," Trofimov became an outspoken critic of the Russian authorities and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine after the war began.
He was convicted on several criminal charges, including public incitement to extremist activity, spreading what the authorities describe as "false information" about the Russian military, and preparing to join an armed formation operating on the territory of a foreign state. Combined, the convictions resulted in a sentence of 13 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
One of the statements cited by prosecutors as evidence against him read:
"I want to fight on Ukraine's side. I am a Russian citizen, and this war is about the future of both Ukraine and Russia. On 24 February 2022, demons escaped from hell, and they must now be driven back there by force of arms, together with their evil bald dwarf leader... I call for the killing of FSB officers, National Guard personnel and other Putin orcs."
During his trial, Trofimov repeatedly shouted anti-war slogans and staged protests inside the courtroom. He also stated that he had intended to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, a military unit fighting alongside Ukraine.
IK-9 in Petrozavodsk has been the subject of numerous allegations of torture and abuse. Former inmates have told Mediazona that prisoners were beaten, doused with cold water, placed in freezing punishment cells and disciplined for filing complaints. One inmate alleged that guards suspended him from a metal bar threaded beneath his knees, beat him and threatened to induce a heart attack.
Among the first to publicly describe conditions inside IK-9 was former prisoner and Petrozavodsk activist Ruben Pogosyan. He alleged that prison officer Ivan Savelyev routinely abused inmates and personally participated in beatings. In February 2024, Pogosyan himself was sentenced to six years in a strict-regime penal colony under Russia's law against spreading "false information" about the military, over social media posts concerning the destruction of the Mariupol Drama Theatre, the killings of civilians in Bucha, and the missile strike on the railway station in Kramatorsk.
