Scientist Valery Kachin, convicted of treason, declares dry hunger strike after violence in pretrial detention

Scientist Valery Kachin, convicted of treason, declares dry hunger strike after violence in pretrial detention

Surveying scientist Valery Kachin, sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony, has refused food and water at Pretrial Detention Centre No. 1 in Udmurtia.

According to Kachin, he is kept in solitary confinement almost continuously, forced to raise and lower a heavy bed himself, subjected to night-time inspections, and has his belongings taken away. On the morning of October 21, following a conflict with staff, he was thrown to the floor. He struck his face, and abrasions remained on his elbows and knees.

Kachin is currently about 60 kilograms at a height of 182 centimetres, First Department writes.

Who is Valery Kachin

Kachin is a surveying scientist from Birobidzhan. Before his arrest, he worked at the city administration and the Bastak nature reserve, opposed the war, and supported Ukraine, Alexei Navalny, and the protests in Belarus.

In January 2025, he was sentenced to 14 years in a high-security penal colony in a treason case. According to the FSB, Kachin passed information about critically important infrastructure facilities in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast to a representative of a Ukrainian intelligence service.

In September 2025, the scientist had already declared a dry hunger strike after spending more than two months in a punitive isolation cell. At the time, he lost weight to 53 kilograms and spoke of heart and kidney problems.

Valery Kachin / Photo: First Department

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