In a courtroom in Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave wedged between Lithuania and Poland, a 66-year-old rights lawyer named Maria Bontsler has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for treason. Prosecutors say she passed Ukraine information about security officers and criminal cases, but the proceedings were closed and the evidence remains out of public view, leaving her defenders' claim that none of it was secret without independent confirmation. Her case joins a longer story in which Russia, since its invasion of Ukraine, has steadily narrowed the room for dissent and for those who defend di
Russian Court Sentences Rights Lawyer Maria Bontsler to 12 Years on Treason Charge
A 66-year-old rights lawyer received a 12-year prison sentence and an additional year of activity restrictions, while reportedly in ill health.
Twelve years for a 66-year-old lawyer, in a trial closed to her own counsel
Mark
Why does this sentence stand out? Russia jails people constantly.
Mimi
Because she's a lawyer who represented political defendants, and now she's the one convicted. Twelve years, at 66, plus another year of restrictions.
Luke
Careful, though. The link between her clients and her prosecution is implied by context. The reporting doesn't say prosecutors cited her casework as the reason.
Mark
What are prosecutors actually alleging?
Mimi
That from 2024 she passed Ukraine information about security officers in Kaliningrad, and about criminal cases Kyiv was interested in.
Luke
And we only have the court's summary of that. The trial was closed, so nobody outside can check what the evidence was.
Mark
Her lawyers say the information wasn't secret.
Mimi
Yes, and that she was in poor health in detention. Those claims come via Slovo Zashchite.
Luke
Right, that's one group's account. The court statement didn't respond to them, and we don't know what the information was.
Mark
How does the Navalny lawyers' case fit?
Mimi
In January 2025 three of them got three and a half to five and a half years. Many saw it as a warning to defence lawyers.
Luke
That's a widely held reading, not a proven motive. And treason is a different charge, so the comparison has limits.
Der Puls
- A 66-year-old lawyer who defended political defendants now faces twelve years in prison, a sentence far heavier than prosecutors' request was matched by in lesser cases.
- The trial was closed to the public, and her lawyers say she was barred from attending and was in poor health while detained.
- Defence counsel insists the cited information was not secret, pressing a challenge that cannot yet be tested against any public evidence.
- The case follows the 2025 sentencing of Navalny's lawyers, suggesting a deliberate chilling effect on those who take political cases.
- With an extra year of activity restrictions added, the sentence signals that her legal career is being ended as well as her liberty.
In a courtroom in Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave wedged between Lithuania and Poland, a 66-year-old rights lawyer named Maria Bontsler has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for treason. Prosecutors say she passed Ukraine information about security officers and criminal cases, but the proceedings were closed and the evidence remains out of public view, leaving her defenders' claim that none of it was secret without independent confirmation. Her case joins a longer story in which Russia, since its invasion of Ukraine, has steadily narrowed the room for dissent and for those who defend dissenters in court.
A court in Kaliningrad, Russia's Baltic exclave, sentenced Maria Bontsler, a 66-year-old rights lawyer, to twelve years in prison on Thursday after convicting her of treason. Prosecutors alleged that from 2024 she passed Ukraine details about security officers in the region and information about criminal cases that interested Kyiv. The rights group Slovo Zashchite, which reported the verdict, said she had represented many people charged with political offences in Kaliningrad.
The trial was held behind closed doors. According to the group, Bontsler and her lawyers were kept from attending, and she was allowed only a closing statement. Her lawyers argue that none of the material cited was secret and that she was in poor health in detention. The court's own statement, which did not name her, did not respond to these points. Prosecutors had sought fifteen years, and she was also given an additional year of restrictions on her activity.
The verdict comes amid tightening laws since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and after the 2025 sentencing of Navalny's lawyers on extremism charges. Her sentence is far heavier than theirs, and without public evidence, the claims on both sides remain untested.
A court in Kaliningrad, Russia's Baltic exclave, sentenced a 66-year-old rights lawyer to 12 years in prison on Thursday. The woman, Maria Bontsler, was convicted of treason. Prosecutors had accused her of passing sensitive information to Ukraine.
The sentence was reported by the rights group Slovo Zashchite, which said Bontsler had worked with a number of defendants accused of political offences in Kaliningrad. The territory sits on the Baltic Sea, between Lithuania and Poland.
A statement posted by the court on Telegram did not name her. It said she had been detained by the FSB, Russia's intelligence agency, on allegations that beginning in 2024 she passed Ukraine information about security officers in Kaliningrad. Prosecutors also alleged she gave Ukraine information on criminal cases in the exclave that were of interest to Kyiv, according to the statement.
Beyond the 12 years in prison, she was given an additional year of restrictions on her activity. Slovo Zashchite said prosecutors had asked for 15 years.
The trial was held behind closed doors, according to the group. It said Bontsler and her lawyers were prevented from attending, and that she was permitted only to make a closing statement. Her lawyers argued that none of the information cited by prosecutors was secret, and that she had been in ill health while in detention. The account of the proceedings comes from Slovo Zashchite; the court statement did not address those points.
The case arrives in a legal climate that has tightened since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Parliament has since approved laws making public actions aimed at "discrediting" the army illegal, and banning the spread of "fake news" about the armed forces.
Russian courts have also jailed lawyers who took on politically sensitive cases. In January 2025, a court sentenced three lawyers of the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny to between three and a half and five and a half years on "extremism" charges. That case was widely seen as an effort to discourage defence lawyers from taking political cases.
Bontsler's sentence is far heavier than those handed to Navalny's lawyers. With the trial closed, the evidence behind the treason charge is not public, and what her lawyers say about the information being non-secret cannot be independently tested from the available reporting.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
None of the information cited by prosecutors was secret, and she had been in ill health in detention.— Bontsler's lawyers, as relayed by Slovo Zashchite
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