The Samara saxophonist Andrey Shabanov, sentenced to six years, wrote an open letter asking for help, which was published by Novaya Gazeta. In the letter, he speaks about constant humiliation in the colony, being beaten by a cellmate, and hopes to be released as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and EU countries.
Novaya Gazeta published Shabanov’s letter. He writes that in the colony he is constantly humiliated by the administration and cellmates, and other prisoners assigned him to the lowest prison caste, the “downtrodden”.
In June, Shabanov reported that he was forbidden to use his own bed, the shared refrigerator, and the kitchen, and was also threatened with a beating. In July, according to him, a cellmate did indeed beat him.
Shabanov claims that the administration sent him to a punishment isolation cell, where he had to sleep on the floor because the bunk bed was fastened to the wall. He also writes that he submitted more than two hundred complaints to supervisory authorities, the prosecutor’s office, and the Public Monitoring Commission, but they produced no result.
The Samara saxophonist was sentenced in 2024 to six years in prison for a Facebook post calling for a fight against the current authorities, including through donations to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and sabotage. The outcry around his case intensified after the court hearing on extending his preventive measure on August 28, 2024, when Shabanov took off his T-shirt and showed the condition of his skin, covered with ulcers and spots.
Shabanov writes that he is a person with a disability of Group II, has Bechterew’s disease and severe psoriasis. For almost two years in pretrial detention, he says, he did not receive medical care, and his illnesses worsened.
At the end of the letter, Shabanov says that his only hope is to be released as part of a possible prisoner exchange with EU countries.
Sources
