Overview
- Prisoner-support group Rus Sidyashchaya reported Sunday that Roman Sidorkin died on January 8th, 2026, at FSIN Tuberculosis Hospital No. 1 in Saratov, citing a postcard reply that read “Died 8.01.2026.”
- Sidorkin, a 52-year-old employee of a defense plant in Kursk, was detained in spring 2022 after the FSB accused him and his ex-wife of passing military design materials to Ukrainian intelligence and preparing to blow up rail tracks near the border.
- In summer 2023 a court sentenced him to 17 years in prison, while his former wife, Tatiana, received a 13-year term.
- In spring 2025 a new case with former colleague Alexander Vorobyov led to an increased total sentence of 23 years, with three years in prison followed by a strict-regime penal colony.
- Human-rights monitors, including Memorial which lists Sidorkin as a victim of political repression, point to a spate of custody deaths this month that includes Oleg Tiryshkin, artist Andrey Akuzin, and blogger-preacher Vegan Khristolub Bozhy.