About the case

Mikhail Mikhailovitch Lochtchinine is a Belgian–Russian citizen who has not lived in Russia since 2000. He has visited the country only a few times over the past 25 years. Since 2018, he had been living in Trier, Germany.

On the night of June 30 to July 1, 2025, Mikhail entered Russia through the Ubylinka border checkpoint in the Pskov region on a motorcycle, in order to visit his seriously ill father in Saint Petersburg.

At the border, his phone was seized for inspection. Shortly afterward, border guards deliberately provoked a minor administrative violation in order to justify his prolonged detention.

Mikhail was held for nearly a month without charges at a hotel near the border, with his documents, phone, and motorcycle confiscated and his movements strictly controlled. During this period, authorities reviewed private correspondence with a former girlfriend from Ukraine. This purely personal communication later became the basis for criminal accusations against him.

On August 2, 2025, instead of being released as repeatedly promised, Mikhail was seized by armed men without identification and taken to an unknown location. It was later discovered that he had been forcibly transferred more than 1,000 kilometers away to a strict-regime detention facility in Stary Oskol, where he was subjected to physical and psychological abuse and torture.

On August 21, Mikhail was transferred to the Pskov SIZO-1 detention center and formally charged with treason. Investigators and a public defender forced him to sign documents that severely undermined his ability to defend himself, despite documented evidence contradicting these claims.

Pskov SIZO-1 detention center.

Mikhail suffers from severe myopia, serious vision risks, heart problems, and other health issues that require medical care, which has not been adequately provided in detention. Despite repeated requests, the Belgian Embassy has not been granted permission to visit him.

Throughout his detention, Mikhail has been under intense pressure to confess to a crime he did not commit. The charge of treason, based on private correspondence, carries a sentence of 12 years or more. According to official statistics, there have been no acquittals under this charge in the Russian Federation.

Mikhail is a peaceful, law-abiding individual, a long-time IT professional who also worked extensively in cultural and children’s theater projects. His family and friends continue to seek justice, medical care, and international attention to his case.

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