Memorial names the 49 political prisoners who have died in Russian custody since 2009

At least 49 people on trial or in prison in Russia have died while in custody since 2009, according to human rights group Memorial, which released the estimate on Wednesday to mark one of Russia’s most important events to honour the victims of Soviet political oppression. 

A series of annual commemorative events held worldwide on 29 October, the Returning of the Names is dedicated to the victims of Soviet-era repression.

Memorial’s updated list of political prisoners known to have died in Russian prisons and pretrial detention centres includes Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who was killed in an Arctic prison in February 2024; Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who perished in Russian captivity in September 2024; pianist Pavel Kushnir, who died on a hunger strike in prison for his anti-war stance in August 2024, and travel agent Andrey Kotov, who was found dead in custody in December after being arrested for organising tours for queer people.

People in over 110 cities worldwide — including Moscow, Tbilisi, Berlin and Warsaw — attended events on Wednesday at which participants line up to read aloud the names and short biographies of individuals executed by the Soviet authorities.

Despite the event being banned by the Russian authorities since the start of the war in Ukraine, people have continued to gather in Russian cities for such events, despite their very real risk of arrest. 

In 2024, according to the event organiser’s official website, the event took place in 141 cities in 45 countries worldwide. In 2007, the event took place for the first time in Lubyanka Square in Moscow — where the KGB’s headquarters were located during the Soviet era — as a protest against the Russian authorities’ downplaying of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of Political Repression, which takes place annually on 30 October.