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Write for freedom

An event to show support to political prisoners wrongfully held in Russia

Join us for an evening of letter-writing! Together we can write letters of hope and compassion to people who have been unjustly imprisoned.

WHEN: April 24, 2025 at 18:00 CET

WHERE: Tromsø library: meeting room

It's safe and easy to do and we will help you!

It's a small thing that can make a big difference.

And like many of the best things in life: It's free.


Here's how it works:

  1. Bring a device -- a laptop, ipad, smartphone. You can connect to the Tromsø guest free wifi at the library.
  2. Go to Letters-now to select a prisoner to write to. You can expand the filters to select a prisoner according to various parameters such as: age, occupation, marital status, hobby, etc. If you have a hard time choosing, you can scroll down to "Lifeline" toward the bottom of the page and you will be assigned a prisoner at random. Alternatively, you can choose a prisoner from Memorial-France (note that this site is in French).
  3. Write your letter. It is best to start with a short paragraph introducing yourself. Then you can add a narrative about something of interest to you, for example you can describe a book you read, a movie you saw, your pet, etc. You can close out your letter by saying that you are writing to support them, that you respect and value them and care about what happens to them. (There are also things that you should not write about -- see FAQs below.) If you need inspiration, see this example.
  4. If you have written your letter in a language other than Russian, use googletranslate or AI to translate your letter. We can check the translation for accuracy.
  5. Paste your letter into the window on the website. The site will accept up to 2400 characters (including spaces).
  6. Enter your email address. If the prisoner writes back to you, the response will be mailed to you at that address.
  7. Do you give permission to publish your letter anonymously? Click on your answer.
  8. Click on: Send the letter!
  9. Thank you! You have reached out to give hope and encouragement to someone who is suffering unjustly.

Here are some examples of people that you can write to:

Irina Navalnaya, an IT specialist, is 27 years old, a citizen of Ukraine. When she and her mother evacuated from their home in Mariupol at the beginning of the full-scale war, they were interrogated by the Russian police who harassed Irina because of her last name (by chance the same as that of Aleksei Navalny) and even put a gun to her head. A few months later she returned to check on her grandmother and collect some of her belongings. She was arrested while riding her bicycle and taken to the police department where she was beaten. After a month of torture at an undisclosed location, to save her life she “confessed” to planning a terrorist attack. Memorial considers the case against her to be a fabrication. She is now serving an 8-year sentence in a penal colony not far from Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Aleksei Gorinov is 63, a Moscow lawyer who was arrested in April 2022 for suggesting at a council of deputies that it was inappropriate to organize a children's drawing competition when children are dying in Ukraine. From his cage at the back of the court during his trial he held up a poster saying, “Do you still need this war?”. He received a 7-year sentence. In November 2024 Aleksei was on trial again, this time for allegedly “advocating terrorism”, and three more years were added to his sentence. During that trial he held up a poster saying, “Enough killing. Let’s stop the war.” Aleksei is currently being held in a penal colony 180 kilometers east of Moscow, where Memorial believes he is being tortured.

FAQs: