March 2025. What mattered the most in our work in March

In March ’25:

• In total we received 4,324 requests for help on our phone hotline and in our Telegram-bot;
• 185,172 users were connected to our Telegram-bot;
• conducted 138 legal consultations by phone and e-mail legal@ovdinfo.org;
• our legal instructions were viewed 13,434 times.

Legal aid

We provide and coordinate legal assistance in cases related to the restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly or freedom of speech. Our attorneys visit those detained in police departments, and support defendants in Russian administrative and criminal courts.

In March, our legal team helped 130 people.

Assistance on cases of administrative offences:

Administrative cases: detentions at public gatherings, and/or fines for restrictive statuses. The administrative cases usually result in fines, but if the «offence» (which we consider politically motivated and unjust, hence, the quotation marks) is repeated, it will lead to a criminal case, and, potentially, a sentence with jail time.

• Our attorneys went to the police stations 17 times, where they helped 22 detainees;
• They helped 8 people in court sessions on administrative cases;
• And managed to terminate 1 administrative case.

Criminal cases:

Our lawyers and jurists in March 2025:

• were present during 2 searches in Saint-Petersburg;
• accompanied clients on 8 interrogations in two cities;
• entered into 7 new criminal cases for 8 defendants;
• in total, at the end of March, lawyers from OVD-Info worked on 94 criminal cases against 108 people in 34 cities.

We consider all the charges and criminal cases brought in connection with them to be illegal and politically motivated.

Aid in detention facilities

Since mid-2024, we’ve been focusing not only on fighting political repression, but also on helping those who have already faced persecution by the state and suffered for their beliefs. We — the initiatives launched with the support of OVD-Info — provide highly practical assistance: we send care packages to penal colonies and help cover the costs of medical treatment.

A fundraiser for care packages for women in pre-trial detention and prison for International Women’s Day

Right now, more than 400 women in Russia are imprisoned because of their beliefs — over 100 of them have been recognized as political prisoners. In detention, they lack access to basic necessities, such as personal hygiene items. Many essential products are simply unaffordable, especially given the «pink tax» in prisons — a markup of up to 100% on goods for women.

We’ve been aware of this problem for a long time, so for March 8, we launched a fundraiser to send care packages to women in prison — and in just a few days, you donated over €7550! Thanks to your support:

• 14 imprisoned women received care packages;
• 16 people on the outside were able to send packages to their loved ones in prisons and detention centers;
• 10 people were able to visit their loved ones in person;
• and one woman was able to top up her personal account in the detention center to buy basic necessities.

This fundraiser was part of the «Bureau of Prison Deliveries» project, launched with the support of OVD-Info. The project collects requests from people facing political persecution and sends care packages to pre-trial detention centers and prisons.

Writing Letters: Lifeline

• you wrote 289 letters in March;
• since the project launched, a total of 12,932 letters have been written for 905 people;
• we received 3,511 replies and have already forwarded them to you.

Through Lifeline you can send a letter — for free — to someone imprisoned for political reasons. You can write to a specific person, or be matched with someone new based on shared interests.

Campaigns

We believe that information protects. In some cases it literally protects lives: when a prisoner is detained and experiencing violence, sometimes there is no other way to help other that to make the case public. This is why we came up with instruments that help us do it — with great support of our followers. It is important to defend freedom of assembly, and not just through helping people who faced repressions. In order to do so, we initiate petitions and complaints, for illegal actions or inactivity of the officials when they violate the right for freedom of assembly or laws in the context of public events.

Campaign in Support of Lyudmila Razumova in Pre-Trial Detention

In early March, artist Lyudmila Razumova — sentenced to seven years in prison for spreading «fake news» about the Russian army — began a hunger strike in prison. She took this step after her health sharply deteriorated and the prison administration refused to provide medical care. Her condition was extremely serious, and the hunger strike could have had fatal consequences.

• in March, you sent 7016 appeals to government agencies;
• since «Dyatel» was launched, more than 134,000 appeals have been sent.

We reached out to you to help bring attention to Lyudmila’s case and ensure she wasn’t left without support. As a result, Lyudmila was transferred to a prison hospital and is now receiving the necessary treatment.

«Dyatel» (Woodpecker) is our tool for sending mass appeals to Russian authorities. With just a few clicks, anyone can demand action in cases of injustice — whether it’s calling for medical assistance for a political prisoner, protesting unlawful detention, or supporting someone’s right to a fair trial. It’s fast, easy to use, and makes your voice heard where it matters.

News and media

We believe that information protects, and that media and social attention can prevent violations and change the whole picture. This is why a major part of our work is monitoring news on human rights violations in real time and publishing them as swiftly as possible. Besides news, we publish comprehensive studies, interviews, and now even investigations.

We have prepared and released:

• 192 breaking news on political persecution in 61 regions of Russia.
• 45 updates covering detentions, trials, anti-war statements, LGBTQ+ repression, protests against mobilization, and government pressure under «moral» pretexts.
• 3 in-depth articles on political persecution.

Reports, research and advocacy

At our organisation, we examine emerging problems from various angles, which helps us work out present-day tactical solutions and lay the strategic foundation for future systemic change. The results of our analyses are published as reports, data sets, or special projects.

Data and analytics

Persecution of «disloyal» individuals in culture industry in Russia: 41 people imprisoned, 176 facing pressure

Stand-up comedians, rappers, film critics, stage directors — what do they have in common? They are under close scrutiny from the state and face a high risk of persecution if they openly express their anti-war stance. Right now, 42 cultural figures are deprived of their freedom. Most of them have been transferred to penal colonies, 14 are in pre-trial detention centers, and three are under house arrest.

In a new in-depth report prepared by the data department of OVD-Info, we have gathered all available information about cultural figures who have faced political persecution before and after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

11 Years of Occupation: Establishment of the Repressive Regime in Crimea

In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and since then it has become a real testing ground for the repression of the local population, especially the Crimean Tatars. On the 11th anniversary of the occupation of Crimea, we published a report on how pressure on civil society has intensified over the past 11 years.

This study is based on data and analysis from OVD-Info, as well as research from Crimean Solidarity, the «Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial» project, the Human Rights Center Memorial, the Human Rights Center ZIMINA, the CrimeaSOS project, and the media outlet Krym.Realii.

In this report, we use the terms «occupied» and «occupation» in line with the terminology adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in relation to Crimea. These terms aim to emphasise the international community’s non-recognition of Russia’s unlawful annexation of Crimea. We believe that information protects. This is why it has to be easily available. For this very reason we are translating our studies into languages we deem feasible. This report on Crimean occupation is available in Russian, English, Ukrainian and Tatar languages.

Our research team is very active, and it is difficult to put all of their work into one letter. Therefore, we have a newsletter available in English. You can subscribe to follow our news and publications of upcoming reports and datasets: Subscribe to the newsletter.

International advocacy

In March, the international advocacy team of OVD-Info took part in two meetings where human rights and persecution in the Russian context were discussed:

• The OVD-Info team joined an advocacy meeting in Vienna to exchange experiences with OSCE diplomats. As part of this meeting, we provided OSCE diplomats with recommendations on working with human rights in the Russian context.
• The second advocacy meeting took place in London, where representatives of OVD-Info participated in a panel discussion at Parliament. The panel was dedicated to the deteriorating human rights situation in Russia and Belarus.

On our website, there is a special page dedicatedto international advocacy. There, we share reports and other communications with international institutions, as well as the outcomes of such communications.

How much we raised

Total transfers:

• 16,163 donations €306,362

The figure includes:

• 662 p2p-transfers made to OVD-Info’s beneficiaries through the Zaodno platform, totalling €6,445.
• 922 direct transfers, totaling €11,572 — for care packages and medical assistance for politically persecuted individuals: the majority of these were donations in support of women political prisoners for March 8: we launched a major fundraiser to cover the costs of care packages (food, hygiene products, clothing, medications), top-ups for prison accounts, and expenses related to family visits.

How much we spent

In March, we spent a total of €395,613. Here’s a breakdown of how the funds were used:

€99,198 — payment for legal assistance. Our lawyers, attorneys, and defenders assisted detained individuals in police stations and courts throughout the month and coordinated support for criminal cases. The expenses include:

• Payment for lawyers, legal professionals, and defenders working on administrative offense cases (first and second instance courts);
• Payment for lawyers traveling to police stations to assist detainees;
• Payment for lawyers participating in criminal case processes;
• Payment for lawyers in juvenile cases commissions;
• Payment for lawyers attending interrogations;
• Search, training, and coordination of lawyers, defenders, and attorneys in different cities, as well as the operation of the legal hotline — these tasks are handled by our legal assistance team.

€33,308 — support for new or friendly initiatives. To make the project more sustainable and flexible, we invest in the development of new projects that help us in the fight against political persecution. Sometimes we do this together with new small partners, strengthening each other with expertise, knowledge, and resources. Other times, we launch new directions in test mode, such as medical or humanitarian assistance to politically persecuted individuals.

€32,167 — work of hotline operators and news writers. Our monitoring group answers calls on the hotline, messages in the Telegram bot, and writes news daily, helping detainees not only during large actions — detentions in Russia occur every day.

€34,590 — work of the media team. We believe that information protects. To make information about political rights violations publicly accessible, we prepare and publish in-depth articles, guides on major criminal cases, launch special projects, conduct interviews, and share this information on social media. The media team’s tasks also include launching campaigns and running the «Lifeline» project.

€24,682 — data projects, reports, and research. To make the right decisions here and now and to assist journalists and researchers in understanding what is happening, we collect and analyze data on political persecution, publishing datasets. Based on the collected data, we prepare reports that analyze how legislative practices and repressive laws make political persecution possible.

€17,283 — international advocacy. We defend the freedom of assembly, speech, and association both inside Russia and internationally, striving to make Russian repression visible and influence changes in laws and practices that violate international standards. To do this, we prepare reports and analytical materials, participate in events and conferences, and hold our own meetings to publicize violations and obtain independent assessments from international institutions such as the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe. Legal support in preparing complaints for submission to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), as well as work by lawyers on strategic cases, also falls under this direction.

€37,515 — work of the IT team. We develop services that help protect ourselves and others, ensure the stable operation of the entire system of tools and developments, and share our developments with other initiatives.

€11,898 — volunteer coordination. Volunteers are our support and the best team of like-minded people. We actively work on expanding the community, attracting volunteers to solve tasks that are not only important for the project but also interesting for them, and we try to involve them more in our work and life, as well as in helping other initiatives.

€20,853 — care for team members. We have allocated a separate area for the care of team members, which includes psychological support, compensation for medical expenses, development of participants’ competencies, and their safety. Until August 2024, this part of the expenses was included in the operational support of the project.

€37,527 — operational support of the project. Thanks to this often unnoticed work, we continue to assist those in need and use our resources and efforts more efficiently. These expenses include the costs for team members who ensure the daily operation and planning of the project’s activities, as well as those responsible for the long-term sustainability of OVD-Info, budget planning, strategic goals, communication with donors, and financial transparency.

€46,593 — infrastructure expenses. Since October 2023, we have included the payment for key services (such as telephony) in the expenses of the respective areas. Infrastructure expenses now include those parts of the infrastructure related to the work of the team and the project as a whole (such as the office, accounting, and commissions for infrastructure partners who assist us). This also includes taxes and commissions from payment systems that we use for receiving and processing donations.

Thank you for staying with us!