Lyubov Lizunova
“Today, I choose to follow my principles, reason and love. Today, I choose to see the sky beyond the prison bars. Today, I choose to understand and accept people around me. Today, I choose not to be afraid…”
Lyubov Lizunova is an anarchist and anti-fascist from Chita in the Zabaykalsky Krai region of Russia, who was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
In 2022, she and her friend Aleksandr Snezhkov (also sentenced to three and a half years in prison, in 2024) were arrested and accused of “inciting extremism” for creating anti-war graffiti reading “Death to the Regime” and administering Telegram channels where information about anti-war protests and guerrilla actions was published.
At the time, she was only 16 years old and in the ninth grade of school. Both were later added to the Russian authorities’ list of terrorists.
While remanded at a juvenile correctional facility, Lyubov had to finish high school. In the summer of 2025, she was transferred to an adult prison. In her letters from prison, Lyubov says that she spends her free time reading and writing, and tries to stay hopeful no matter what.
“Today, I choose to follow my principles, reason and love. Today, I choose to see the sky beyond the prison bars. Today, I choose to understand and accept people around me. Today, I choose not to be afraid. Tomorrow, the world will respond to me with warmth, and ‘big life’ will encourage me to hold on to my unfulfilled dream. Thank you to everyone who, like me, chooses the light. It was all worth it; I know for sure that everything was not in vain. I am sure Snezhok feels the same way. Neither of us will ever go astray or lose our way. Autumn will begin the day after tomorrow. Let’s greet it with a smile. Hard times will follow, but we will have a fire burning inside us to keep us warm.”
Lyubov Lizunova.
