Political prisoner barred from attending husband’s funeral after his death in penal colony

A Russian political prisoner whose husband died in a penal colony last week was denied permission to attend his funeral, independent news outlet Bumaga reported on Thursday.

Anastasia Dyudyaeva’s request to be granted a furlough to attend the funeral of her husband, Alexander Dotsenko, was turned down, according to a group set up to support the political prisoner couple.

Dotsenko died on 19 February after suffering a heart attack in the penal colony where he was serving his sentence, and his funeral took place on Thursday morning at a church in the Leningrad region village of Taitsy, where the couple lived together before being imprisoned. It was attended by around 30 mourners.

Both Dotsenko and Dyudyaeva were found guilty of “inciting terrorism” by a St. Petersburg court in 2024. According to investigators, the couple had distributed Ukrainian-language leaflets reading “Putin to the gallows” at a supermarket in St. Petersburg.

The couple denied the allegations, but were sentenced to three and three-and-a-half years in a penal colony, respectively. Independent news outlet Mediazona observed at the time that a handwriting expert, called as a witness by the prosecution, had cast doubt on the couple’s involvement.