Daria Polyudova

Polyudova was one of the organisers of the March for the Federalization of Kuban, which was not authorized by the local authorities. On 15 August 2014, 2 days before the planned event, a young man began harassing her on the street. Accusing her of being a nationalist and "pressuring" her, after which police officers appeared and detained her, accusing her of petty hooliganism. Polyudova was taken to the office of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Western District of Krasnodar, where she was left overnight. On 16 August, the court placed the activist under arrest for 14 days. On 29 August it became known that a criminal case against Polyudova was initiated. Immediately after serving the administrative arrest, she was placed under arrest in pre-trial detention centre No. 5 in Krasnodar region, controlled by the FSB. Polyudova was charged with public calls for actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and public incitement to extremist activities (the reason for the application of this clause was a publication in the social network "Vkontakte", which, in particular, said: "All terrorist attacks and disasters are the fault of Putin and his entourage. Disasters and terrorist attacks constantly occur only under Putin's capitalism"; it asserts that to "stop this lawlessness, the country needs a revolution"; that a revolution can "rid the country of all the misfortunes that are occurring under Putin - paid education, medicine, the impossibility of buying one's own home, low wages, high rates for housing and communal services, political prisoners, and, finally, military aggression in Ukraine and a series of constant disasters"). Since August 2014, Polyudova was under arrest for 6 months, after which she was released on recognizance not to abscond. The investigation into the case was officially completed four times; however, each time it was returned for further investigation.

The prosecution asked the court to sentence Polyudova to 3.5 years in an open prison. On 21 December 2015, the court sentenced her to 2 years in an open prison.

On 20 October 2017, she was released. After her release, she was registered with the penal inspection.

On 15 January 2020, Polyudova was detained after a search and interrogated as part of the case on calls to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and justification of terrorism. On 16 January, the court decided to take Polyudova into custody.

On 14 September it became known that Polyudova was charged with another justification of terrorism.

On 25 February 2021, the charge of calls to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation was dropped due to the partial decriminalisation of Article 280.1 of the Criminal Code.

On 31 May, she was sentenced to 6 years in a general regime penal colony. One of the charges was reclassified to call for extremist actions.

On 8 November 2021, a case of organizing activities of an extremist organization was initiated against Polyudova. On 23 December 2022, she was sentenced to 9 years in a penal colony.

In July 2023, Polyudova went on a hunger strike because a blade had been planted on her in the colony. In early August, it became known that Polyudova had been transferred to strict detention conditions. She ended her hunger strike.

On 15 January 2024, Polyudova's letters had not been delivered to the addressees for a period of 6 months, and she is not allowed to call her relatives.

In August 2025 it became known that Polyudova was attacked by another prisoner in the colony.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our politically motivated criminal prosecutions in Russia database