The history of Salekhard, Labytnangi and Kharp has long been inextricably linked to prisons and camps.

Human rights activist and one of Memorial's founders, Oleg Orlov was unjustly sentenced to 2,5 years of penal colony by a Russian court. We have prepared a historical account of the Pre-Trial Detention Center #2 in the city of Syzran where Oleg Orlov was awaiting his court of appeal. The history of this penitentiary, one of Russia's oldest, dates back about three centuries.

As Kharkiv is being fiercely shelled by the Russian army, a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Defense Group, Iryna Skachko, describes the history of the “Word” (Slovo) House . This apartment building was built in Kharkiv in the 1920s to house Ukrainian writers, most of whom would later be executed or sent to camps, in a matter of years.

Russian authorities have been methodically trying to undo the efforts to preserve the memory of mass executions in Sandarmokh, Karelia, during the Great Terror. Our volunteer reports on her recent trip there.