Russia is holding 236 political prisoners, a significant increase over the past few years as President Vladimir Putin goes on the offensive against perceived threats, a study backed by human rights advocates said Monday.
The number compares with 46 political prisoners on a February 2015 list by Memorial, the veteran Russian civil society movement that supported the latest study.
The report, led by Perseus Strategies, a Washington-based law firm focused on human rights, listed 236 people it identified as political prisoners, although it said the number was likely "much higher" when including cases that could not be rigorously researched.
The study said Russia has been able to jail opponents through its "notoriously vague" prohibitions, such as bans on hooliganism and insulting religious feeling.
Canada's former justice minister Irwin Cotler -- now chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, one of the groups that commissioned the study -- said Russia has seen a "criminalization of everyday life" and has also targeted leaders through a law that blacklists "undesirable organizations."
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