Letters to political prisoners

An Evening of Letters to Political Prisoners

This time, the wonderful Nadezhda Skotchilenko, Sasha’s mother, joined our event and shared her experiences of communicating with political prisoners and their families — through letters, financial support, and personal connection. She spoke about Sasha and many other young prisoners currently behind bars for having the courage to stand against the war.

She also spoke about Ukrainian POWs and the remote prison colonies that are extremely difficult for lawyers to access, as well as the general shortage of legal aid in many regions.

Nadezhda shared details about the horrific conditions in Russian prisons and emphasized how important it is to support prisoners not only with letters and care packages but also with petitions and formal requests to prison authorities — demanding access to medical care or improvements to living conditions. These appeals are often drafted by OVD-Info staff or other legal professionals. Although responses can take a long time, they do sometimes work, and the demands are granted. This can save lives.

Letters and postcards also help — they give prisoners the strength to survive unbearable conditions. Over the course of the evening, we wrote a total of 70 letters and postcards.

The event was also visited by a crew from one of the UK’s major television channels, and as a result, a documentary film will be produced.

Huge thanks to everyone who took part! 🫶
Heartfelt thanks to Nadezhda Skotchilenko! 🫶
And a big thank you to the British crew for their interest in our work and for filming the event! 🫶

🤍💙🤍

August 3, 2025, Helsinki

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