Lana Sator (official name Svetlana Timofeeva) is a world-famous urban explorer,  photographer, and blogger. Since she was a schoolgirl, she has been passionate about lost places and industrial monuments of the past. Lana has explored abandoned and underground places and shared her photos and stories on her blog on Instagram which is followed by 250 000 subscribers.

Lana has been exploring abandoned places for more than 10 years

The Times, CNN, Reuters, Daily Mail, and other well-known media published her inspiring and spectacular artworks. She is the author of two books, “Lana Sator’s Sovjet” (Sweden) and “Ruins of the Soviet heritage” (Japan). 

 

Lana's photos of a not-used Lun-class ekranoplan became viral

Last August Svetlana went to Albania for traveling and urban exploration. She and two other urban explorers got arrested near a long-disused military Gramsh factory and were accused of espionage by Albanian authorities. Even Albania’s prime minister, Edi Rama, admitted that there are no secrets to steal at a long-defunct factory, but Lana and the other guys are still under arrest.

Lana is exploring an abandoned underground facility

After Lana got arrested in Albania Russia issued an arrest warrant for her and then requested to extradite her. Russian authorities accused Lana of illegally obtaining classified information. This accusation along with espionage in Russia falls under the category of “crimes against the Russian State”, a special type of offense that is widely used against journalists, scientists, and regular Russians who openly criticized Putin’s politics or condemned the Russian war aggression against Ukraine.

 

These charges are a weapon of choice of Russian authorities and a convenient method of retaliation because such cases are classified. Even a defendant and his lawyers can’t get access to the case documents and the process isn’t public. In the words of Pavel Chickov, the head of the Russian Human Rights organization Agora: «FSB has built an invisible system of politically motivated prosecution. It is actively developing new approaches to the criminal procedure, actually declaring the absence of the rights of the defense that are already extremely limited».

Right after Lana spoke out against the Russian war aggression in Ukraine on her blog and left Russia the Russian authorities indicted her for an old case that started in 2018 and she was only a witness. We consider this a clear sign that this is a politically motivated persecution.

Sadly, Albanian authorities claim they believe the guarantees of Russia that Lana’s human rights will not be violated and she will not face political prosecution. This promise was given by the Russian General Prosecutor Igor Krasnov who is currently under EU and US sanctions for violating human rights. Also, Russia is infamous as a country where human rights are neglected and is no longer a party to the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, the Russian Criminal Justice system is ranked 123 out of 144 countries. Acquittal verdicts in Russian courts are extremely rare – less than 1% of accused get non-guilty verdicts. Also note that Russia is notorious for the abuse of human rights and especially in its prison system, where tortures, inhumane treatment, and even beatings to death and rapings are the grim reality. Once behind the bars, a person is stripped of all his human rights, becoming a victim of the Russian penitentiary system.

Lana and her lawyers believe that her only hope for a fair trial is in Albania. Lana is willing to face the court in Albania and to be trialed following the rule of law and with respect to the conception of Human Rights. That’s why she has applied for asylum in the Republic of Albania. 

We are a group of Lana’s friends who have known her for many years as a talented photographer and an honest and brave person. We are horrified that she risks spending many years in Russian prison only because of her political position. 

Right now the Albanian court is considering the question about Lana's extradition. We plead Regional Border and Migration Directorate of Albania accept Lana’s claim and grant her asylum so she can be trialed fairly and politically impartial.