Aleksei Badmaev is a political prisoner
A student from Irkutsk has been sentenced to 14 years in a strict regime penal colony on charges of justifying terrorism and treason for comments posted on VK and a transfer of 500 roubles.
The ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project, in accordance with international standards, considers Aleksei Badmaev a political prisoner. Badmaev was convicted on charges of treason, public propaganda of terrorism and attempted financing of an illegal armed group. Badmaev’s criminal prosecution and conviction violated his right to a fair trial. We demand the immediate release of Aleksei Badmaev and that all criminal charges against him be dropped.
What were the charges against Aleksei Badmaev?
Aleksei Badmaev, who is from Irkutsk and a student at Baikal State University, was detained in January 2024 when he was 20 years old. According to the court’s verdict, the security services had recorded anti-war posts he made on the VK social media site. These posts contained views Badmaev had also expressed openly in his university classes.
Badmaev was prosecuted on three criminal charges: 1) public propaganda of terrorism (Article 205.2, Part 2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [CC RF]), for comments on VK referring approvingly to the Free Russia Legion; 2) treason (Article 275 CC RF), for transferring 500 roubles to the author of the YouTube channel To Be or; 3) treason and attempted financing of an illegal armed group (Article 30, Part 3, CC RF, in conjunction with Article 208, Part 1, CC RF), for an unsuccessful attempt to transfer money to the Russian Volunteer Corps (a transaction blocked by his bank).
On 29 January 2025, a military court in Chita sentenced Badmaev to seven years’ imprisonment. On 13 May 2025, an appeal court increased the sentence to 14 years, with the first two and a half years to be served in a cell-type prison and the remainder in a strict regime penal colony.
Why do we consider Aleksei Badmaev a political prisoner?
Aleksei Badmaev has been prosecuted for his consistent anti-war stance. The court has not disclosed the precise content of his VK comments, but it is known they contained favourable references to the Free Russia Legion, which the court interpreted as calls to join an ‘illegal armed group.’
The designation of the Free Russia Legion as a terrorist organisation in Russia is unlawful and unjustified. Expressions of support for, or approval of, its actions cannot therefore automatically be regarded as propaganda of terrorism. Badmaev’s comments contained no calls to engage in violence and posed no threat to public safety.
Neither the transfer of 500 roubles to a YouTube channel nor the attempted transfer to the Russian Volunteer Corps can constitute treason, since neither act posed any threat to Russia’s security. The real threat to Russia’s security is the war its authorities have unleashed against Ukraine, not individual attempts to assist those defending Ukraine against aggression. The symbolic amount of the sum transferred only underlines the disproportionality of the sentence and the insignificance of any supposed threat.
Furthermore, the Russian Volunteer Corps cannot reasonably be considered an ‘illegal armed group’ as it officially forms part of the armed forces of Ukraine. The charges of treason and of attempted financing of an illegal armed group are therefore also mutually incompatible, and it is therefore impossible to apply both to one and the same act.
A detailed description of Aleksei Badmaev’s case and of our position is available on our website.
How can you help?
You can write to Aleksei Badmaev at the following address:
RU:
457670, Челябинская область, г. Верхнеуральск, ул. Северная, д. 1, ФКУ Т ГУФСИН России по Челябинской области, Бадмаеву Алексею Борисовичу 2003 г. р.
EN:
Aleksei Borisovich Badmaev (born 2003), Prison of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Chelyabinsk Oblast, 1 Severnaya Street, Verkhneuralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, 457670, Russia.
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Please note that letters in languages other than Russian are highly unlikely to reach the intended recipient.
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