Russian anti-war journalist begins hunger strike in penal colony

A Russian anti-war journalist serving a sentence in a penal colony has begun a hunger strike over her treatment by prison authorities.

According to her employer, RusNews, reporter Maria Ponomarenko has been placed in an isolation cell after a court hearing at which she claimed prison authorities had falsified complaints against her.

She is currently serving a six-year sentence for allegedly spreading “fake” information about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Details of the war are routinely downplayed by the Kremlin and state-controlled media, and journalists who report on them accurately can expect to face severe consequences.

Ponomarenko was sentenced to jail by a Siberian court last year for posting information about a Russian air strike on a theatre being used as a bomb shelter in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March 2022. With death figures as high as 600 reported in foreign media, the incident became notorious worldwide.

In a message posted to its Telegram channel, RusNews reported that Ponomarenko had protested against complaints filed to justify transferring her to an isolation cell.

“Before the hearing, Maria was outraged with the falsification of seven complaints (as justification for) transferring the journalist to the solitary unit, which she did not even know about,” RusNews wrote. She reportedly also claimed that signatures had been forged in complaints accusing her of physical abuse.

The outlet described Ponomarenko as visibly distressed, reporting that “her hands were shaking violently” as she told the judge that “half the signatures” in the complaints submitted against her were forged.

Ponomarenko says she is now on hunger strike until the prosecutor in her case agrees to appear at her next hearing.