The Volgograd Regional Court sided with Nagavkin in three disputes with the Federal Penitentiary Service.

The Volgograd Regional Court has upheld three lawsuits filed by Igor Nagavkin against the federal and regional departments of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) regarding his conditions of detention in the Leninsky Pretrial Detention Center and Uryupinsk Correctional Institution No. 23.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," Igor Nagavkin was serving a two-year sentence in a penal colony-settlement in Uryupinsk for disrupting the work of the pretrial detention center. The colony's administration appealed to the court to change the type of correctional facility ("peredogrim") to a general regime penal colony. His lawyer and human rights activists have alleged that Nagavkin's conditions in the penal colony-settlement are torturous. Prior to his transfer to a general regime penal colony, the Uryupinsk penal colony-settlement administration decided to keep Igor Nagavkin in solitary confinement. The court denied human rights activist Valentin Bogdan the right to participate in the trial as a defense attorney; Nagavkin and his defense team were unable to challenge more than 700 reports of regime violations in court. At the end of October 2025, Nagavkin was transferred from the Uryupinsk penal colony to the Kamyshin general regime colony.

At the end of 2025, the Central District Court and the Uryupinsk City Court heard a series of lawsuits filed by human rights activist Igor Nagavkin regarding violations of detention conditions in Pre-trial Detention Center No. 5 in Leninsk and Penal Institution No. 23 in Uryupinsk. Nagavkin sought compensation for legal costs and moral damages caused by what he considered to be unlawful tightening of detention conditions. The defendants included units of the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, regional offices of the Judicial Department, and the Federal Treasury. Judges in the district and city courts ruled favorably on all claims, but the claims for moral damages were not satisfied.

The defendants appealed these rulings in the Volgograd Regional Court. Appeals were held on each of Nagavkin's complaints regarding the conditions of detention, held on January 30, February 19, and February 20. The appellate court upheld the validity of all of the human rights activist's claims.

On February 16, Judge Vera Trusova heard Nagavkin's claim "for compensation for damages and compensation for moral harm caused by inadequate conditions of detention in pretrial detention centers and correctional facilities, not related to the illegal actions (or inaction) of the investigative bodies." She also considered Nagavkin's claims for damages and compensation for moral harm "caused by inadequate conditions of detention in pretrial detention facilities and correctional institutions," including during his transportation on March 12, 2025. The regional office of the Federal Treasury acted as the defendant. A court ruling has not yet been issued in this case; the next hearing is scheduled for March 12, Nagavkin's relatives told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The regional court sided with me and issued an independent ruling in the case, finding the actions of correctional facility No. 23 illegal, but the court denied me compensation for moral harm. But this is fixable," Nagavkin wrote in his letter to his family.

Nagavkin's lawyers have requested that the amount of compensation for moral harm not be made public for now. One of Igor Nagavkin's defense attorneys, Platon Ananyev, noted that positive rulings on the human rights activist's complaints about prison conditions "could certainly have a positive impact on his future legal battle."

"Igor will be released in October. I don't think his conditions in the Kamyshin prison will worsen. The process for compensation for moral damages is not yet complete; the lawyers are developing a defense strategy. There is a chance the court rulings will be in his (Nagavkin's) favor," Platon Ananyev told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Nagavkin's sister, Natalya Shishlina, reported that she communicates with him through letters; the family received his last letter on February 23 (available to "Caucasian Knot"). In it, Nagavkin reported winning another case in the Volgograd Regional Court (February 20) "against the penal colony and the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Volgograd Region."

"Igor, as always, has no complaints about the conditions of his detention or his health. We eagerly await his release," Natalya Shishlina told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.