Amnesty International urges release of trans man held in ‘degrading’ conditions in Russia

A trans man is being held in “inhuman and degrading conditions” in Russia on a more than decade-long treason sentence after donating money to a bank account in Ukraine.

Mark Kislitsyn, an LGBTQ+ activist from Moscow, was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony by the Moscow City Court in 2023 for sending ₽865 (equal to $10 in the United States) to a Ukrainian bank account, which the authorities say was collecting “donations for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and since then it has been estimated that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died.

Previous to being arrested for the donation, Mark Kislitsyn was reportedly arrested and fined in 2022 for demonstrating against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and making critical posts on social media about it.

“Defies common sense”

Amnesty International, which is calling for Kislitsyn’s release, said he has been placed in the women’s penal colony IK-9 in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia.

The human rights organisation claims he is being housed in dire conditions, regularly sent to solitary confinement, is being forced to wear women’s clothing and has been denied access to gender-affirming care, specifically, masculinising hormone therapy.

Commenting on the case, Amnesty International’s Russia Researcher, Natalia Prilutskaya, said: “Imprisoning Mark Kislitsyn in a penal colony on ‘treason’ charges for sending US$10 to an account in Ukraine defies common sense.

“The real aim of this prosecution is not protecting state security but punishing a committed human rights activist for his anti-war position.

“His relentless persecution and ill-treatment, including denial of the medical care he needs as a transgender man and prolonged arbitrary periods in a punishment cell – mostly in solitary confinement -, proves this. We demand Mark Kislitsyn’s immediate release and an end to the persecution of all anti-war activists in Russia.”

In a letter from prison, Kislitsyn said: “Those who are trying to intimidate me… can do me a little harm, but no matter what they do, they cannot make me renounce my beliefs, lose my sense of belonging to my country or even ruin my mood,” adding that he wants Russia “to be a home – a home, not a prison.”

Speaking to independent Russian-language publication Mediazona in January, Yan Dvorkin – head of Russian trans and non-binary support group Centre T – said officials have been making threats to Kislitsyn’s safety whilst he has been in prison.

“The administration has said things like, ‘First you’re a liberal, then a f****t, and next you’ll sell your motherland,’ and ‘We’ll make you the next (deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei) Navalny,’” they told the outlet. “We, of course, see this as a direct threat to his health and safety.”

Dvorkin also shared more details about Kislitsyn’s kind and selfless nature, explaining: “Mark took in people who were left on the street and needed help, sleeping on the floor himself and living like that for weeks until people found work. Or he would travel across Moscow to bring food or clean the flat of someone who was severely depressed. He got involved in fundraising for people who needed help; always tried to support others.”