Zotova, convicted of attempted arson, is mocked in the colony

The human rights organization “Solidarity Zone” reports on the torture of the prisoner Valeria Zotova in the Kostroma colony. Zotova, now twenty years old, was sentenced to six years in prison last summer for trying to set fire to the building of the village administration, where humanitarian aid for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine was kept. Zotova’s family and defenders argued that she could have been a victim of provocation by the Russian security forces.

Now, as “Solidarity Zone” reports, Valery Zotova is in the IK-3 colony in the Kostroma region. The administration of the colony puts pressure on her, activists claim. They threaten to send her to a barrack with strict conditions of detention for imaginary reasons. The employee of the colony herself tore off the tag from Zotova’s uniform, after which she asked, “Why isn’t the tag sewn on?” and immediately made a report about the violation – the absence of a breast badge on the uniform.

When Zotova tried to receive the ordered parcel with products, IK-3 employees, according to human rights defenders, accused her of intending to “blow up everyone” and released the sappers. They explained their actions by the fact that Zotova had a “terrorist” article. Sappers did not find dangerous substances in the parcel.

As told by a lawyer who visited the colony, Zotova works at a sewing factory for 12 hours a day, two days every other day, and she is also assigned compulsory classes in the program of the general education school and training in sewing. Because of this, she cannot get medical help: the doctors’ appointment hours in the colony coincide with Zotova’s own work and study hours. The girl complains of severe back pain and dental problems.

• Many human rights activists believe that the case against Zotova was fabricated. The publication Sota reported that a few months before the arson attempt, Valeria was corresponded with people from different accounts who were urging her to explode or set fire. Later, one of the users with whom Zotova communicated admitted that she had participated in the operative and investigative activity “operative experiment”.
• The Human Rights Center “Memorial” considers Valeria Zotova a political prisoner.