Kaliningrad Lawyer Sentenced to 12 Years for Treason

A court in Kaliningrad sentenced human-rights lawyer Maria Bontsler to 12 years in prison for treason on November 12, 2026, in a case involving allegations that she passed information to Ukraine. The court also imposed an additional year of restrictions on her activities, according to the rights group Slovo Zashchite, which reported the sentence.

Prosecutors accused Bontsler, 66, of providing Ukrainian authorities with information about security officers in Kaliningrad and criminal cases in the region. The allegations concerned conduct beginning in 2024, according to a court statement posted on Telegram. That statement did not name Bontsler but described the allegations and said she had been detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.

Prosecutors characterized the information as sensitive and said it was of interest to Ukraine. Bontsler’s lawyers argued that the material was public and not secret. Bontsler denied the charges and said in a final statement that her prosecution stemmed from her human-rights legal work and amounted to political reprisal.

The public accounts do not resolve whether the information was classified or what evidence the court relied on to find...