Richard Rose

On 14 April 2022, he was detained by force and during interrogation threatened violence against his wife and the removal of his child. Later, the court placed Rose in custody. In the pre-trial detention centre, he was pressured to confess, with threats that otherwise his wife would also be placed in detention, his son would be taken to an orphanage, and Rose himself would be transferred to the "offended", and in general his conditions would become unbearable. In addition, the investigator announced that the lawyer could no longer defend him. Rose refused then to answer any questions about the case or to perform proceedings in the presence of a court-appointed lawyer. At one of the trials, Rose said that he had been severely beaten by security forces during his arrest. Later he wrote to a friend that he was threatened with physical violence in the pre-trial detention centre. He does not receive letters, his letters also do not reach their recipients. He has been forbidden from calling his family. In August 2023, it was reported that during a search of his cell almost all his books and personal belongings were taken away from him. He was denied phone calls, he could only receive letters from two senders, and his own letters were not being sent.

On 22 September 2023, Rose was sentenced to eight years in a general regime colony. His wife reported that his letters were not being delivered and that he was not allowed to make phone calls, despite the court's permission.

In April 2024, it was revealed that Richard Rose was again being pressurised in the pre-trial detention centre. He was sent to a rubber-walled temporary isolation cell for four days after he protested that his notes, poems and a draft story had been taken away from him. There, according to Rose, he was kept naked. He was not allowed to use the toilet, so he decided to refuse food for a while so as not to to cope with a major need in the cell. Rose was then told he would be placed in a disciplinary cell for six days for allegedly sleeping during the day.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our database of politically motivated criminal prosecutions.