An activist convicted of inciting extremism complained about not being allowed access to a lawyer

Left Resistance activist Darya Polyudova cannot contact a lawyer due to new rules for calls in Kostroma's Penal Colony No. 8.

Previously, prisoners in Penal Colony No. 8 had the opportunity to make several phone calls a week with a 15-minute limit on each. Thus, Polyudova could communicate with her mother, lawyer, and friends at once, dividing this time into several calls. Currently, the situation has changed, and prisoners are left with only one call a week.

According to a volunteer who maintains correspondence with Polyudova, she prefers to use the allotted time to talk to her mother, since her father died this year. Due to this loss, the activist cannot contact a lawyer.

Earlier, Polyudova reported being beaten by a cellmate in Kabardino-Balkaria's Penal Colony No. 4. According to the lawyer, the prisoner suffered for critical statements about Russian President Putin.

In 2022, Darya Polyudova was sentenced to 9 years in prison on charges of calling for extremism and creating an extremist community. The sentence also included her previous punishment - in 2021, the court found her guilty of publicly justifying terrorism due to a post about Chechen field commanders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov.

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