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Richard Rouz, who is serving a sentence at Perm’s Penal Colony No. 29 over charges of spreading so-called military “fakes” and justifying terrorism, has been placed in a cell-type facility for six months. His wife, Maria Rouz, told OVD-Info about this.
On 21 February, Richard wrote in one of his letters that he had been placed in a punishment isolation cell (SHIZO) until 13 March. In another letter, dated 3 March, he said that he was being sent to a PKT for six months.
Previously, he was held in a strict regime unit (SUS). Maria said that he has faced restrictions on correspondence, and only recently have Richard’s acquaintances started to receive letters from him again.
“There were almost no letters from Richard for a whole year. Now he’s sent only two letters (at the time of publication, a third letter from him arrived—Editor’s note, OVD-Info). He isn’t allowed to receive any letters from anyone. People from all over the world write to him,” she said. Maria receives messages from people who say their letters to Richard go unanswered.
The Kirov resident has faced restrictions on correspondence and phone calls throughout his imprisonment, both in the penal colony and pre-trial detention centre.
In 2023, Richard Rouz was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony for spreading “fakes” about the Russian army (paragraph “d” of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and justifying terrorism (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code).
He was convicted over posts on Instagram. The court deemed a video about the killings of civilians in Bucha to be a “fake,” and ruled that a comment on a war video—“Putler can only be stopped in one way: by killing him physically”—qualified as justifying terrorism.
- Rouz was arrested in April 2022. He said that after his detention, he was beaten in the FSB building and forced to give his phone password under threats that his wife would be raped and killed. In pre-trial detention, Rouz gave a confession after security officers threatened to arrest his wife, send his son to an orphanage and make conditions intolerable for him. According to Rouz, one FSB officer promised to “cut off all [his] communication channels.”
- In April 2022, a case over military “fakes” was opened against Maria Rouz as well—also for posts about Bucha. Later, over her posts about the war, she was accused of calling for extremism (part 2 of article 280 of the Criminal Code).
- A few months later, Maria Rouz, who had not been remanded in custody during the investigation, left Russia with her underage son. She was convicted in absentia and sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony.