MOSCOW, January 26 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) – Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court will begin hearing on February 3 a lawsuit filed by Russian activist Ildar Dadin sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for numerous violations of protest laws over his transfer to a prison in the Altai Territory, the court’s spokesperson Emilia Khil told RAPSI on Thursday.

Dadin claims that the Federal Penitentiary Service’s (FSIN) ruling on his transfer from the Republic of Karelia contravenes the Article 8 (right to respect for one's private and family life, his home and his correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The activist was convicted and sentenced on December 7, 2015. Initially he received a 3-year prison term. The Moscow City Court later reduced the sentence to 2.5 years.

Dadin’s wife Anastasia Zotova wrote on Facebook in early November that her husband had been beaten and received murder threats when transferred to a penal colony in Karelia. The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) launched a probe into the allegations. Later, the FSIN announced that independent medical commission from a local hospital had not found injuries on Dadin’s body.

On November 24, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) during a plenary session expressed concern over the welfare of Dadin and called on Russia to immediately release him. MEPs insisted on a thorough and transparent independent investigation into the situation with Dadin who had complained on a number of occasions of prison conditions and torture.
In early January, Zotova wrote on Facebook that Dadin was transferred from a prison in Karelia to Altai.