Imprisoned antiwar journalist Maria Ponomarenko is on the verge of suicide, lawyer warns

RU

Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist sentenced in February 2023 to six years in prison under Russia’s wartime censorship laws, is now on the verge of suicide, her lawyer has told independent human rights project OVD-Info. Ponomarenko’s employer, RusNews, also reports that she is currently on a dry hunger strike.

During her last court hearing, Ponomarenko showed her lawyer stitches on a vein in the bend of her elbow, explaining that she had cut herself due to ongoing mistreatment by prison officials. In late February, during a phone call with her daughter, the journalist reportedly asked for forgiveness “for everything” and hinted at suicidal intentions.

RusNews has published two short letters from Ponomarenko, in which she states that she has “no strength left” and pleads for help. “There’s no one to talk to here, censorship won’t allow anything [through] that truly matters, and the pain is so overwhelming that I doubt I can endure it,” one letter reads.

A letter sent on March 11 never reached its recipient. RusNews suggests that prison censors blocked it, as it contained details about Ponomarenko's deteriorating condition.

Journalists at RusNews confirm that Ponomarenko is on a dry hunger strike, though its duration remains unknown. She is scheduled to appear in court on March 24 on charges that she allegedly attacked prison staff. In her final statement at the trial, she reportedly plans to detail how that the administration of Shipunovo penal colony, located in Altai Krai in Western Siberia, is pressuring her to commit suicide. Her lawyer has already filed complaints with the prosecutor's office and the Altai Krai human rights commissioner regarding the issue.

Maria Ponomarenko was imprisoned over Telegram posts in which she wrote about the 2022 Russian airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater. In 2023, she was sentenced to six years for spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian military under a statute that effectively amounts to wartime censorship. In February of this year, prosecutors requested an additional two-year sentence for Ponomarenko due to her alleged assault of prison staff, which officials claim caused them minor injuries. One of the alleged victims testified in court that the incident was “insignificant” and that he would not have filed a complaint on his own.

Ponomarenko has repeatedly complained about the lack of medical care and has been sent to solitary confinement multiple times by prison authorities.