RUS 001 / 0226 / OBS 008
Arbitrary detention /
Judicial harassment
Russia
6 February 2026
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary arrest and detention of Ms Daria Egereva, a human rights activist defending the rights of indigenous peoples in Russia. Daria Egereva is a representative of the Selkup, one of the smallest indigenous peoples in Russia with a total population of 3500 people, and has, over a sustained period, undertaken professional responsibilities addressing the participation of indigenous peoples in multilateral processes. Her work has focused on global climate cooperation and on facilitating structured dialogue between indigenous peoples and States within official United Nations frameworks, including those in which the Russian Federation participates.
On 18 December 2025, despite the peaceful nature of her activities, Russian authorities initiated a criminal case against Daria Egereva under Article 205.5 (part 2) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“participation in the activities of terrorist organisation”) for her alleged involvement with the Aborigen Forum, an informal association of experts and activists representing indigenous peoples from 14 regions of the North, Siberia, and the Far East. If convicted, she is facing up to 20 years of imprisonment.
On 17 December 2025, police arrested and detained at least 17 representatives of indigenous peoples from the Altai and Sakha Republics, Tomsk, Murmansk, Kemerovo Oblasts, and Krasnoyarsk Krai. Most were released the same day but, at the time of publication of this urgent appeal, Daria Egereva is still in detention at Moscow Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 6.
The Observatory recalls that on 25 July 2024, the Ministry of Justice of Russia labeled 55 organisations, including those working to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities, as extremist. Aborigen Forum was one of them. After this, Aborigen Forum terminated all its activities. In November 2024, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the “Free Nations of PostRussia Forum” and its 172 “structural divisions”, including Aborigen Forum, as “terrorist organisations”. The authorities provided no justification for the alleged involvement of these 172 organisations with the Forum.
Investigators argued that Ms Egereva joined the Aborigen Forum no later than April 2024 and has since been “involved in recruiting participants, coordinating their activities, creating and administering closed channels where she posted information about events and organised the gathering of participants for such events”.
Daria Egereva denied her involvement in terrorist or any other non-peaceful activities. Russian authorities have provided no evidence to the contrary.
The Observatory believes that the criminal prosecution of Daria Egereva is a part of the widespread practice of persecution of indigenous peoples and the general crackdown on human rights in Russia, which has clearly intensified after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, Russian authorities regularly abuse anti-extremist and anti-terrorist laws, driven by the vagueness of legislation and total impunity, to silence peaceful dissenting voices and human rights defenders.
The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Daria Egereva, which appears to be solely aimed at silencing human rights activist defending the rights of indigenous peoples in Russia and calls on the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release her, and to stop all acts of harassment, against her and all human rights defenders in Russia.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities of the Russian Federation asking them to:
– Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Daria Egereva, and all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
– Ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Daria Egereva and lift all restrictive measures imposed on the remaining targeted defenders mentioned in this urgent appeal;
– Drop all criminal charges and put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against the activists defending the rights of indigenous peoples and all other human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
– Guarantee in all circumstances the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as enshrined in Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Russian Federation is a party;
– Ensure that human rights defenders and human rights organisations in the Russian Federation are able to carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisals.
Addresses:
• Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, X: @KremlinRussia_E
• Mr. Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, X: @GovernmentRF
• Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, E-mail: ministry@mid.ru
• Mr. Igor Krasnov, General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, Email: pressa@genproc.gov.ru
• Mr. Alexander Bortnikov, Director of Federal Security Service (FSS), Email: fsb@fsb.ru
• Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail: mission.russian@vtxnet.ch
• Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: mission.russian@vtxnet.ch
Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of the Russian Federation in your respective countries.
Please write to international and regional organisations, asking them to:
– Urge the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Daria Egereva, as well as to guarantee her physical integrity and psychological well-being;
– Issue public statements condemning the arbitrary detention of Daria Egereva and, more generally, the ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society activists the Russian Federation;
– Urge the Russian authorities, bilaterally and in multilateral fora, to halt the ongoing crackdown against human rights defenders and civil society, and respect human rights in the Russian Federation.
Addresses:
• Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, X: @antonioguterres
• Mr. Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Email: civilsociety@ohchr.org, X: @volker_turk
• Ms. Kaja Kallas, European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Email: protocol.council@consilium.europa.eu, X: @kajakallas
Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of the Russian Federation in your respective countries.
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Paris-Geneva, 6 February 2026
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
• E-mail: alert@observatoryfordefenders.org
• Tel FIDH: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
• Tel OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39
