Other inmates in the penal colony are threatening imprisoned saxophonist Andrei Shabanov and restricting his everyday life, according to the musician’s support group. It said that Shabanov, who has a disability, is being barred from using his own bed, the shared refrigerator and the kitchen.
The activists added that he has also been threatened with beatings several times. Shabanov himself said the pressure began after he violated the colony’s internal criminal hierarchy rules.
According to the saxophonist, the issue started because he sat in an area designated for the “humiliated,” drank tea there and listened to the radio in a place that was “not allowed for his status.”
Shabanov separately stressed that what is happening is unrelated to his earlier complaints about detention conditions. The support group said it had already passed the information to the musician’s lawyer, who plans to file complaints with the prosecutor’s office and the Samara regional FSIN department.
Case against Shabanov
In February 2025, the saxophonist was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on charges of “justifying terrorism” and “calling for actions undermining state security.” The criminal case was based on posts criticizing Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime, as well as an attempt to upload a photograph of Adolf Hitler to the Immortal Regiment website.
Health condition
In his final statement, Shabanov admitted guilt and asked the court to take into account that both he and his mother have disabilities. The musician has a second-category disability; he suffers from autoimmune illnesses, including psoriasis, as well as arthritis. While in pretrial detention, his condition reportedly deteriorated sharply: for several months he received no treatment at all. After media coverage, Shabanov was transferred to a prison hospital, but the treatment, according to the report, proved ineffective.