Kislitsyn protested against the Russian invasion in February 2022 and was arrested shortly thereafter. In July 2023, he was arrested again and sentenced in December 2023. He is being held in a women's penal colony in Novosibirsk, where he is denied access to gender-affirming care and forced to wear women's clothing. Since November 2024, he has been repeatedly placed in solitary confinement under inhumane conditions.
Despite this treatment, Kislitsyn remains resilient. In a letter from prison, he wrote: “Those who are trying to intimidate me… can do me a little harm, but no matter what they do, they cannot make me renounce my beliefs, lose my sense of belonging to my country or even ruin my mood.” He emphasises that he wants Russia to be “a home – a home, not a prison.”
Amnesty’s Russia researcher Natalia Prilutskaya states: “The sentencing of Mark Kislitsyn is absurd. It is a crackdown on a brave activist who stands up for peace and human rights.” The case has sparked international outrage and highlights the severe repression against critics of the Russian government.
