Report: Russia opens negligence case after pacifist blogger is found hanged in prison solitary confinement cell
Russian authorities have opened a criminal case on charges of negligence following the death of pacifist blogger Vegan Khristolub Bozhiy at a prison in the Voronezh region. He was found hanged in a solitary confinement cell, a person who knew the blogger told the Telegram news channel SotaVision and the Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti.
News of the 43-year-old blogger’s death at Penal Colony No. 2 in the Voronezh region broke on April 17. His father told friends, who then informed journalists.
The blogger’s family was initially not told the circumstances of his death. His father said Khristolub Bozhiy had a “strained relationship” with the prison administration and “minor misunderstandings” with fellow inmates.
According to new information, the blogger’s father visited an investigator and the prison on April 21, where he was told that Khristolub Bozhiy had been found hanged in the solitary confinement cell where he had been placed in early April.
The father was also reportedly told that a criminal case had been opened on suspicion of negligence following the prisoner’s death. No further details are available.
The blogger’s relatives doubt the suicide version, noting that he was a Christian. They believe Khristolub Bozhiy may have gone on a hunger strike — he had staged one before when he was previously sent to solitary confinement.
Khristolub Bozhiy ran a website and a YouTube channel about Christianity and veganism, according to the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona. On his platforms he published sermons on a range of topics, including defending pornography, criticizing homophobia, discussing other religions, and speaking out against the Russia-Ukraine war.
In early February 2025, a court in Voronezh sentenced Khristolub Bozhiy to three years in a settlement colony and compulsory treatment on charges of glorifying Nazism. The case stemmed from a video in which he discussed the recruitment of prisoners for the war in Ukraine and mentioned World War II veterans.
Because of a video about Islam as a “sect,” the blogger was also convicted of offending the feelings of believers, but was released from punishment because the statute of limitations had expired.
In late 2025, Khristolub Bozhiy was sent to prison.
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