Russian scientist convicted of treason refuses food and water over alleged abuse in detention
Valery Kachin, a geodesist from Birobidzhan who was sentenced in January 2025 to 14 years in a penal colony for treason, has begun a dry hunger strike at Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in Izhevsk, the human rights group Department One (Pervy Otdel) reported.
Valery Kachin, a Russian geodesist from Birobidzhan, has begun a hunger strike due to alleged abuse in detention. Kachin, who is 39 years old, was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony in January 2025 for treason. According to the human rights group Department One, Kachin has been in continuous solitary confinement, alternating between punishment cells for various periods.
He claims that staff have physically assaulted him and forced him to perform tasks he was not assigned. Kachin, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 132 pounds, has been on a dry hunger strike since this morning, refusing both food and water. He alleges that the staff physically abused him during an altercation, bruising his face and scraping his elbows and knees.
Kachin had previously started a hunger strike in September 2025 at another penal colony after a 60-day confinement. He went on that strike due to not being able to maintain his vegan diet, as prisoners in punishment cells cannot receive care packages. Kachin's case came to light in December 2022, and he was sentenced on January 27, 2025.
Written by urgent.news from Meduza (English)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
