On October 28, Memorial’s Political Prisoners Support project presented a public database of people deprived of liberty in Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories in cases showing signs of political motivation. Its documented minimum estimate is at least 5,800 people.
The rights group believes the true number could be at least twice as high. That estimate of the possible scale does not mean an equal number of additional cases has already been individually verified: the database mainly covers people for whom persecution records have been collected.
Memorial says the public records are updated daily. It also offers journalists and researchers access to additional information for examining individual prosecutions and wider patterns of political repression.
The assessment of political motivation is the human rights group’s own judgement, not a legal status assigned to each person by a court. The database considers the circumstances of prosecution and deprivation of liberty, rather than only cases that have already resulted in convictions.