A senior lawyer who represented a jailed journalist in a prominent case has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Russia for criticizing Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine on social media.
Dmitry Talantov, aged 64, was detained in July 2022 after he characterized the actions of the Russian army in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Bucha as reminiscent of “Nazi practices.”
For many years, Talantov was the president of the Udmurtia lawyer association and served as the defense attorney for Ivan Safronov in 2021, a journalist focused on military issues whose arrest sent shockwaves through Russia’s media landscape.
Safronov is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence on treason charges.
During a heartfelt address in court, Talantov expressed concern that he might not survive his prison sentence but reaffirmed his beliefs.
“At 64, it’s difficult for me to envision emerging from prison alive,” Talantov remarked, as heard in an audio recording of his speech shared by the rights organization Perviy Otdel.
He has spent two and a half years in pre-trial detention, including two years in solitary confinement, where he reported that the Russian national anthem plays in the evening and at dawn, followed by a strongly pro-Kremlin radio program.
“I am longing for words of peace. They have yet to arrive,” he stated.
Talantov likened his confinement conditions to a “Middle Ages cell with just a (toilet) hole and a tap,” remarking that “time erodes a person’s spirit” in isolation.
With his voice trembling, he addressed his wife, saying: “Olga, forgive me, I love you.”
In a letter sent to Perviy Otdel, Talantov revealed that he was arrested while at his summer residence in the summer of 2022.
At that time, over 300 lawyers signed a petition demanding his release.
