The anti‑war lawyer jailed for a social media post. The story of political prisoner Dmitry Talantov

Talantov started his career back in the 80s, then worked as a judge for several years, but soon returned to the bar, to which he gave almost 40 years of his life, and in 1996 became president of the Udmurt Bar Association.

He was detained in June 2022, because two months prior he reposted a publication with a photo of an elderly man on Red Square with a poster: “Peace to Ukraine. To Russia — sanity, horror, shame, repentance. Putin — to hell.” He accompanied the repost with the words: “What do you expect, after the photos and videos from Kharkiv, Mariupol, Irpen, Bucha???? This is not fascism — this is extreme Nazi practices! If after this the majority of my compatriots will support the murderer Putin and his gang — I personally refuse to recognize them as people. People have the quality of compassion. These people are just stupid and evil scum.” 

Following his arrest, more than five hundred representatives of the legal community in Russia signed a letter in defense of Dmitry Talantov. The International Association of Russian Lawyers and the International Bar Association made a public demand for his release. Representatives of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers asked the court to choose a non-custodial measure of restraint for Talantov, but the court found that being out of custody, knowing the intricacies of the law enforcement system, he could continue his criminal activities or go into hiding. That is, the justification for Talantov’s arrest was  literally his profession.

It seems, everyone who could spoke out in support of the lawyer. The UN Special Rapporteur, the European Parliament, Amnesty International, even the British band Pet Shop Boys, whose members wrote that they admired Talantov’s bravery.

The prosecutor’s office asked for 12 years in prison. The court gave seven. In his closing statement, Talantov, addressing Judge Metelagin, whom he certainly knows from the trials where he worked as a lawyer, said: “In Russia, you don’t live that long, especially in prison and especially with my health.”

In prison, Dmitry is holding up very well: joking, reading, learning new things. But, of course, it is very hard for him. In his letters he writes that he would definitely like to be included in the next exchange, if Putin is ready to give up more political prisoners. In one of his letters, he wrote, “Light doesn’t need a reason, it just shines. Evil has no chance, it is empty and powerless. Yes, the wind blew out the candle. But we’ll light it again!”

You can support him by writing a letter.