A court in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad on Thursday sentenced 66-year-old rights lawyer Maria Bontsler to 12 years in prison on treason charges, according to the rights group Slovo Zashchite. Prosecutors alleged that Bontsler passed sensitive information to Ukraine, including material about security officers in Kaliningrad and criminal cases in the exclave that were said to be of interest to Ukrainian recipients. The court also imposed an additional one-year restriction on her activities. The case has drawn attention because Bontsler had worked with defendants facing politically sensitive accusations in the region, and because the trial was held behind closed doors.
Key Takeaways: The Kaliningrad court sentenced Maria Bontsler, a 66-year-old rights lawyer, to 12 years in prison for alleged treason. Prosecutors had sought 15 years, while the court added a one-year restriction; the rights group Slovo Zashchite reported that the proceedings were closed. The FSB detained Bontsler over allegations that she passed information to Ukraine beginning in 2024 about security officers and criminal cases in Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, situated between Lithuania and Poland, and its geographic position has made it a sensitive area in Russia’s relations with neighboring countries and in the context of the Ukraine conflict. According to a court statement posted on Telegram, the defendant was detained by the FSB intelligence agency on allegations that she passed information to Ukraine beginning in 2024 about security officers in Kaliningrad. The statement did not name her, but the details matched the case described by Slovo Zashchite. Prosecutors also alleged that she provided Ukraine with information on criminal cases in the exclave that were of interest to the Ukrainian side.
Slovo Zashchite said Bontsler and her lawyers were prevented from attending the closed trial and that she was allowed only to make a closing statement. Her defense argued that none of the information cited by prosecutors was secret and that she had been in ill health while in detention. The rights group also said prosecutors had requested 15 years in prison, while the court imposed 12 years plus an additional year of restrictions. The court statement, released on Telegram, did not identify her by name but described the substance of the allegations.
The sentence comes amid a broader legal campaign in Russia since the start of full-scale hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022. Parliament has approved laws that make public actions aimed at “discrediting” the army illegal and ban the spread of “fake news” about the armed forces. Russian courts have also jailed lawyers who took on politically sensitive cases. In January 2025, a court sentenced three lawyers of the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny to between three and a half and five and a half years on “extremism” charges, in a case widely seen as an effort to discourage defense lawyers from taking political cases. The next steps in Bontsler’s case, including a possible appeal, were not immediately announced.
Source: www.aljazeera.com