Vladimir Osechkin is a Russian-born human rights activist and founder of Gulagu.net, an NGO that documents and exposes crimes committed by Russian officials and the FSB. In November 2021, Osechkin was placed on a wanted list by the Russian state after leaking a large archive of documents, photos, and videos with hundreds of cases of rape and torture of inmates in Russian prisons directed by prison officials. Since August 2022, Osechkin has urged former Russian soldiers and dissidents to flee the country with the help of Gulagu.net, in exchange for exposing information about the war crimes committed in Ukraine. Osechkin continues to risk his life every day to gather evidence that will one day hold Russian officials accountable for their crimes.
CJLPA: I would like to begin by reflecting on your background. What inspired you to become a human rights activist who was willing to risk everything in order to expose the cases of torture and rape committed by Russian officials?
VO: I grew up in a household where we struggled with money. It was a difficult time in our country. I wanted to go to university and get a job in order to give my family a better life. I thought I would be a lawyer or perhaps an officer in the prosecutor office. Then on one day at university, a crime had occurred nearby where someone was killed. The police came to our campus and when they saw me, they invited me to the police station. I did not think anything of it and thought they simply wanted to ask questions and see if I had witnessed anything. I had trust in the police. I soon began to realise it was an interrogation and after about 30 minutes of dissatisfaction with my answers, the police beat me for six hours because they wanted me to give a false confession and sign paperwork stating that I killed the man. They then arrested my close friend at university and tortured him until he signed the testimony against me claiming that I was responsible.