Dear colleagues and friends,

On June 7–8, 2025, the annual international conference in memory of the prominent human rights lawyer and dissident Yuri Markovich Schmidt will take place in Berlin. The conference is organised with the support of public figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Three years after the start of the full-scale invasion, we are witnessing new repressive mechanisms targeting independent journalists, lawyers, activists, politicians, anti-war advocates, volunteers helping Ukrainians, and many others. Many have been forced to leave Russia and lost their professional careers. Lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Alexey Liptser, and Igor Sergunin have been sentenced to 3.5 to 5.5 years in prison for their professional work. Lawyer Dmitry Talantov received a 7-year sentence for exercising his right to free speech. Numerous wartime laws and new repressive practices have severely limited the ability to provide legal defense.

Despite this, lawyers in Russia continue to defend citizens’ rights. Those who were forced to leave the country work with international institutions. During the conference, we will discuss ways to support them and address new challenges: the balance between national security and freedom in democratic countries, support mechanisms for political prisoners, opportunities for human rights groups in the occupied territories of Ukraine, options for prisoner exchanges following a peace agreement, challenges in protecting politically persecuted individuals abroad, and the defense of conscientious objectors and women’s reproductive rights.