Vladimir Osipov, a resident of the Moscow region who was convicted over posts on the social network Odnoklassniki in which he described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “a shameful war of a shameful president” and accused Vladimir Putin and the Russian military of war crimes, has died in a detention facility in the Komi Republic. He was 56.
Osipov had been convicted in a case over alleged “fake news about the army”. News of his death was reported by prison officials and relayed by Russian human rights advocates.
According to them, Osipov suffered from arterial hypertension and kidney stones. During the trial, he repeatedly asked for an ambulance to be called because of high blood pressure and severe headaches. Doctors did come, but in most cases they found no grounds for hospitalisation and only gave him blood pressure medication. Osipov said it was not helping.
At one of the hearings, Judge Yelena Terekhova removed him from the courtroom until the end of the closing arguments, saying he was abusing his rights by constantly asking for emergency medical assistance. After the closing arguments, Osipov was taken to hospital under guard, but was later returned to detention. He was unable to deliver his final statement because the court treated his complaints about his health as a refusal to speak.
Osipov had also previously said that he was not receiving proper medical care in the detention centre in Kolomna.
He was arrested in November 2024. His wife and daughter said police officers beat him during the search of his home. According to them, he was covered in blood, with a split lip, a swelling on his temple and wounds on his head, but the family was not allowed to document the injuries.
The Lyubertsy City Court sentenced him on 10 November 2025 to six and a half years in a general-regime penal colony.
The death of Vladimir Osipov is another reminder of how costly public opposition to the war can be in today’s Russia — even when it amounts to no more than a few posts on social media.
