"They laugh, mock, and are confident of their impunity": a political prisoner from Ulan-Ude has declared a hunger strike.

Alexey Badmaev He hasn't eaten anything since April 8, according to letters published by his mother on a support group's Telegram channel. In a letter to his parents, the political prisoner said he refused to eat after prison staff confiscated his personal belongings, documents, and photographs of his loved ones.

“Yesterday they kicked me in the legs and threatened to smash my head against the wall if I didn’t stop acting up, — Alexey wrote. "And as I write this, the officers are beating my neighbors. They took everything from me: my only underwear, my T-shirt, my turtleneck. They laugh, mock, insult, and curse at us. Confident of their impunity."

Badmaev also said that prisoners are not given food purchased for them at the store, and that he himself was never taken out for a walk during his entire stay in the colony.

"The most important thing, Mom, is don't be afraid! They're doing everything they can to scare you. Don't be afraid! You need to speak up! Just speak up!" — writes Alexey.

The arrest of Alexei Badmaev became known in the fall of 2024. In January 2025, he was sentenced to seven years in a maximum-security penal colony; after an appeal, the sentence was increased to 14 years. The reason was comments on social media and a donation of 500 rubles to a Ukrainian blogger.

Badmaev, now 23, was a law student at an Irkutsk university. He is serving his sentence in the city. Verkhneuralsk, Chelyabinsk region.