Activatica’s documentary “Prisoners: System of Terror” will be shown at Vabamu

The Activatica media project, in partnership with the Congress of Ukrainians in Estonia, Reforum Space Tallinn, and the Vabamu Museum, invites you to a screening of “Prisoners: System of Terror” documentary at Vabamu. The screening will take place on Ukraine Defenders’ Day, October 1, at 5:00 PM.

The film reveals the system of terror created by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
Imagine you’re in the occupied Ukrainian lands. If, for whatever reason, the FSB added your name to its secret list of “disloyal individuals”, or Russian security forces discovered a photo of you with a Ukrainian flag on social media, or a photo of Russian tanks was found during a “filtration” procedure on your smartphone, or perhaps you simply responded to a Russian soldier in Ukrainian—all of these things could land you in a secret prison with minimal chance of return. According to human rights activists, at least 15,000 Ukrainian civilian prisoners are held in Russian prisons. The exact number is unknown: these people usually disappear after being kidnapped, and even their loved ones may remain unaware of their fate for years.

Sometimes, prisoners appear in Russian propaganda videos—broken, bearing signs of torture, forced to confess to the most absurd accusations. But over time, the truth comes out—and it’s shocking. The film explores how the System of Terror works—what happens to people after being kidnapped, what they endure, and whether there’s a chance of escape. The film will be shown in Russian with English subtitles.

One of the film’s main characters, a former Ukrainian prisoner and organizer of peaceful resistance to the occupation in Kherson, Oleksandr Tarasov, will participate in the event and share his experiences. After the screening, visitors will be able to write letters to Ukrainian prisoners.