Police in St. Petersburg disrupt letter-writing event for political prisoners

Police and unidentified masked people disrupted a planned letter-writing event for political prisoners at the Nora venue in St Petersburg. The incident halted the first such gathering in the city organised by the Lyudi i Pisma project, raising questions about the authorities’ response to public support for prisoners.

The reason for the raid and further details are unknown. The group had previously held similar events in Moscow; a separate event organised by St Petersburg’s Yabloko branch on 30 October took place without incident. Human rights organisation Memorial lists 1,368 political prisoners, excluding people persecuted on religious grounds, and has a separate database of more than 5,800 people whose detention it considers potentially politically motivated and unlawful. Russian authorities deny that political prisoners exist in the country.