71-year-old veteran of the Tatar national movement sentenced to six years over anti-war post and Legion repost
Fazyl Valiakhmetov, a 71-year-old local historian and journalist, was sentenced on 28 April to six years in a penal colony over two posts shared on the social network VKontakte, according to reporting by Mediazona.
The court found Fazyl Valiakhmetov guilty of repeated ‘discreditation’ of the Russian military (Article 280.3, Part 1) and ‘justifying terrorism’ via the internet (Article 205.2, Part 2). He has remained in custody at a pre-trial detention centre since 5 December 2024.
The initial case regarding the ‘discreditation’ of the armed forces was built upon five posts written in the Tatar language. However, OVD-Info reports that by the conclusion of the investigation, only one post remained. The text, translated from Tatar, states:
‘… Globalisation is occurring across the globe; borders are practically being erased (for example, in Europe). Live where you wish, buy land, a home, start your own business, and so on. After all, there is no need to seize any country for this, to create new borders <…>, destroying cities and killing tens of thousands of people. Ordinary people do not need this. This isolated tragedy, it turns out, is necessary for ‘politicians’ only to show off, to boast about having done something, exploiting the basest human instincts of scoundrels, playing with them to remain in power.’
The second charge, ‘justifying terrorism’, was brought following a repost of a video address to Russian citizens by the ‘Freedom of Russia’ Legion.
Fazyl Valiakhmetov is a prominent veteran of the Tatar national movement. In 1991, he participated in a political hunger strike in Kazan to support the sovereignty of Tatarstan and to oppose the holding of Russian presidential elections in the republic. He previously managed a museum-library dedicated to the repressed Tatar scholar Hadi Atlasi and was a key figure in establishing the first Tatar gymnasium and a Tatar-language journal in Bugulma. In April 2018, he was awarded a commendation by the President of Tatarstan for his leadership of a charitable foundation dedicated to Hadi Atlasi’s memory.
