Artem Gribul's detention regime has been tightened

Artem Gribul, a convicted protester in Georgia, has had his right to phone calls and visits restricted. A similar decision regarding his fiancée, Anastasia Zinovkina, was based on complaints about her detention conditions, her lawyer said.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in early February, Anton Chechin, Artem Gribul, and Sergei Kukharchuk, convicted in connection with their participation in the protests, were charged with using prohibited items in Gldani Prison. They face three to five years in prison under this charge. In late January, it was reported that Anastasia Zinovkina, a convicted protester in Georgia, had been transferred to a closed prison, where her right to phone calls and visits was restricted. The defense appealed this decision.

Artem Gribul's prison sentence was changed to a closed one. According to his lawyer, Daria Samodurova, she visited him in prison on March 25 and received the corresponding order from the administration. The decision was made on March 20. While Artem previously had a semi-open prison sentence, he now has a completely closed regime, limiting phone calls and visits. The decision was based on a secret hearing protocol. Samodurova intends to appeal it in court.

"They're trying to force me to refrain from filing complaints and defending my clients' rights. Artem is fully prepared to fight, so I won't give up and will defend my client's interests to the end," Samodurova wrote on her Telegram channel.

In another message, she indicated that, according to the protocol of the January 15 hearing, at which Anastasia Zinovkina's regime was tightened, the reason for this was that information about the difficult conditions in the pretrial detention center was leaked to the press.

Zinovkina said that on October 29, 2025, she received no assistance from prison staff for eight hours, although she could not move due to back pain, and the doctor could only offer her "a stronger painkiller that the psychiatrist has." Zinovkina is provided with medical care in prison and does not require inpatient treatment, the Georgian Penitentiary Service stated in response to activists' demands for medical care. In November, the Court of Appeals began reviewing the complaints of the Russians. During attacks, Anastasia Zinovkina, a prisoner in Georgia cannot get out of bed; the fingers of her right hand and toe have become numb, her fiancé, Artem Gribul, reported.