Maria Bontsler
“Anyone living in Russia should understand that our future is uncertain. There will be more repression.
To what extent,we’ll see,
I am not leaving.
Someone has to defend the people…”
Maria Bontsler is a 65-year-old human rights lawyer and political prisoner currently facing up to eight years in prison for secret cooperation with a foreign country ‘against the Secretary of Russia’.
For decades, she defended conscripted soldiers during the Chechen wars, played an active role in campaigning for the right of Russian citizens to undertake alternative civilian service. She is renowned for representing many political prisoners and anti-war activists in Russia. She founded the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers in Kaliningrad and spent over thirty years standing beside people the state wanted silenced.
In 2025, authorities raided her home, detained her, and accused her of “secret cooperation with a foreign state.” The evidence against her remains classified, while her lawyers insist the case is politically motivated and violates her right to a fair trial.
Reports from detention are harrowing.
Maria is experiencing inhumane conditions in detention. She is being deprived of proper medical care, forbidden to receive care packages from outside of the facility, and limited to 3 litres of clean water per week. On one occasion, she was left in the prison yard in the heavy rain for a long time.
Maria has severe chronic illnesses, and her health is deteriorating rapidly.
During emergency medical procedures, she has reportedly remained handcuffed throughout.
In October 2025, she told her lawyers simply:
“They are killing me.”
Maria’s son reported that the Russian Secret Service had tried to blackmail her into giving testimony against a colleague; they threatened to charge her with treason and imprison her for 15 years if she refused.
Maria says she would never do it.
“Anyone living in Russia should understand that our future is uncertain. There will be more repression. To what extent,we’ll see, I am not leaving. Someone has to defend the people. When I was on trial for the first time, I realised how important it is to have a lawyer. I also realised the importance of my work. Who else is going to defend people? I am staying here.”
Maria Bontsler.
