Aleksandr Skobov
Resident of St. Petersburg, publicist, political activist, dissident in Soviet times, political prisoner. In 1978, Skobov was arrested in connection with his active participation in the Left Opposition group and the samizdat of an anti-government magazine. He was later sentenced to a psychiatric hospital, from which he was released in the summer of 1987. On 22 March 2024, Skobov was included in the register of "foreign agents". On the evening of 2 April 2024, he was detained at the home of human rights activist Iulii Rybakov as part of a case of public justification of terrorism. According to Rybakov, when Skobov was taken away after the detention, "he defiantly refused to take with him the medicines that he vitally needs, left his glasses, without which he simply cannot see anything, on my table, and refused to take the necessary things to his cell. Apparently, he does not expect to get out of there and does it as a sign of protest against his detention". On 4 April 2024, the court sent Skobov into custody. Skobov's lawyer asked for a non-arrest preventive measure. She provided medical documents which confirmed that Skobov had been diagnosed with diabetes, hepatitis C, bronchial asthma and glaucoma. In addition, the activist has his 90-year-old mother Natalia as a dependent. Skobov was transported to Syktyvkar. After that, two more episodes appeared in his case: one under the article on public justification of terrorism, presumably because of publications about the activities of the Free Russia Forum, a discussion platform of the Russian opposition established in Vilnius in 2016; the second - under the article on participation in the activities of a terrorist community (part 2 of article 205.4 of the Criminal Code), presumably because of the connection with the Forum. In August 2024, Skobov's wife reported that another case was brought against him for public justification of terrorism, details unknown. On 21 March 2025, Skobov was sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony.