In 2023, Maria was sentenced to six years in prison for speaking out against the war in Ukraine

An additional one year and 10 months has been added to Maria’s prison sentence

Maria has faced ill-treatment including solitary confinement

Extending the sentence is ‘clearly a smokescreen to punish her for not changing her views and for standing up for justice’ - Natalia Zviagina

Reacting to the Shipunovsky District Court ruling to extend Russian journalist and anti-war activist Maria Ponomarenko’s six-year sentence, for speaking out against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, said:

“The Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Maria Ponomarenko.

“Sentencing Maria to six years imprisonment for merely speaking out against the war, condemning the Russian bombing of the theatre in Mariupol and mourning the loss of innocent lives was already unconscionable. Extending that sentence under spurious charges of attacking two guards – clearly a smokescreen to punish her for not changing her views and for standing up for justice – represents a new low in the authorities’ treatment of Maria.

“Since the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian authorities have routinely and brazenly used tactics to silence dissent, using false charges to imprison critics on politically motivated grounds. The Russian authorities must stop the war against Ukraine, stop the repression of their own people, repeal the ‘war censorship’ legislation and release all those imprisoned under it.”

Jailed for highlighting Mariupol killings

On 27 March, the Shipunovsky District Court added a further one year and 10 months to Maria Ponomarenko’s sentence bringing up to nearly eight years and ordered her to undergo outpatient psychiatric treatment upon her release.

Maria Ponomarenko is a journalist with the online RusNews media and an activist from Barnaul, Altai Krai. On 15 February 2023, she was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment under Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code (“disseminating knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces”). The charges stemmed from her social media post about the bombing of the theatre in Mariupol, where hundreds of civilians were reportedly sheltering.

She is serving her term in penal colony IK-6, in Shipunovo, a village 175 km from Barnaul. Throughout her imprisonment, she has faced ill-treatment, including solitary confinement in a punishment cell, a harsh, cramped and isolating detention unit used to break prisoners' spirits through severe restrictions and deprivation – where she had been sent multiple times on false grounds, and denied adequate health care, including for her deteriorating mental health.