Ivan Kudriashov

He spent part of his childhood in an orphanage. He was a school champion in checkers and learnt chess in the pre-trial detention centre. He worked as a mechanic at a carriage repair plant. In the spring of 2022 he held several anti-war protests alone. He was fined on the grounds of leaving profane language on posters in support of the war. After the announcement of mobilisation, Kudriashov received call up papers from a military recruitment office. On the same day he was violently detained and accused of preparing to set fire to the military recruitment office.

Kudriashov told his lawyer that during his detention officers of the Tver's Federal Security Service department planted incendiary mixtures on him and that he was repeatedly tortured in order to get the password to his smartphone and force him to sign a confession.

The Investigative Committee refused to initiate a criminal case on the grounds of Kudriashov's torture claim. On 14 June 2023, Kudriashov went on hunger strike because he was not given vegetarian food, his complaints were not forwarded to the prosecutor's office, and the head of the pre-trial detention facility refused to meet with him.

On 20 June, Kudriashov was sentenced to six years in a strict regime penal colony.

On 18 July, Kudriashov stopped his hunger strike.

On 27 July it became known that Kudriashov was sent to hospital. Later, lawyer Maksim Kharchenko said Kudriashov was in the psychiatric ward in an immobilised state. According to him, the security guards said that Kudriashov was tied up because he could harm others and himself. The convict does not respond to speech. "Solidarity Zone" suggests that Kudriashov could have been subjected to punitive psychiatry methods as revenge by the head of Pre-trial detention centre №1 in Tver, his namesake Alexei Kudriashov (no relation). The lawyer claims that on 18 July, the first day of his client's release from hunger strike, he did not notice any changes in his mental state.

"Solidarity Zone" also stated that the Federal Penitentiary Service officers could have forged Ivan Kudriashov's letters. The human rights activists received a reply from the convict, but the handwriting in it does not match the handwriting in the previous letters. "Kudriashov" writes that he had a nervous breakdown and broke a tap and a sink in two cells, after which he was sent to hospital, where he was being treated and was on the mend. "We believe that in this way the hospital management is trying to mislead the public and extinguish the scandal," writes "Solidarity Zone".

On 8 August, the lawyer said that Kudriashov had recovered.

On 29 September 2023, the court of appeal reduced the sentence to four years and ten months.

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