The whereabouts of a young Russian man imprisoned for burning the Quran and later convicted of treason remain unknown three months after his reported transfer to another correctional facility, lawyers and officials said Thursday.
Nikita Zhuravel, 22, is serving a 14-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2024 of offending religious believers and treason for allegedly sending footage of Russian military equipment to Ukraine’s SBU security service.
The rights group Memorial has designated him a political prisoner.
Eva Merkacheva, a member of Russia’s Human Rights Council, said Zhuravel’s lawyer has not been able to contact him since Dec. 24, shortly after his transfer from Moscow to a penal colony in the Ulyanovsk region.
“His family and I are worried about Nikita’s life and health, especially since there is no proof that he is alive,” his lawyer, Andrei Sabinin, wrote in a letter shared by Merkacheva on Telegram.
