Five years for a father of five over a comment about the Russian Volunteer Corps, 28 years for a Colombian paramedic who served in the Ukrainian armed forces
Read our overview of these and other cases of political prisoners we have recognised last week
In May 2023, Andrei Gneushev from Pskov Oblast posted a comment on Telegram expressing support for the Russian Volunteer Corps. Two years later, criminal proceedings were brought against him for publicly justifying terrorism. On 27 January 2026, the court sentenced Gneushev, a father of five, to five years and one month in a penal colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom.
Aleksei Marfin from Kirov was sentenced in September 2025 to five and a half years in a penal colony under Russia’s laws on disseminating ‘military fakes’ and the rehabilitation of Nazism, over comments about the crimes in Bucha, the attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, and the deaths of Russian servicemen. On appeal, the sentence was increased to six years.
Anton Voronin from Nizhny Novgorod was remanded in custody in February 2026 on charges of participation in an extremist organisation over posts about the activities of the Anti-Corruption Foundation on a Telegram channel.
Students Georgy Paramoshin from Moscow Oblast and Kirill Nikulenkov from Arkhangelsk moderated the opposition Telegram channel ‘NatsDem’. They were detained in March 2024. Paramoshin was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony and Nikulenkov to three and a half years on charges of establishing an extremist community, incitement to hatred, and calls to extremism.
Vsevolod Kulikov, a student from Lipetsk, was detained in February 2023. He was accused of preparing a terrorist attack, allegedly planning to set fire to the runway of a military airfield in Lipetsk on the orders of the Freedom of Russia Legion, and of involving another person in the activities of an illegal armed formation by sharing information about the Legion. He was also charged with preparing to commit treason. He was initially sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment, reduced by two months on appeal. He was tortured following his arrest.
Denis Bushtet from Primorsky Krai is a lawyer, a member of the Cossack movement, and an adoptive father of two. He opposed the war, and when a friend deliberately chose to go to the front, Bushtet argued with him and, in a moment of anger, shared information about him and the others with his Ukrainian acquaintance. He was detained in November 2023, charged with treason, and sentenced to 13 years in a high-security penal colony.
Mykola Haiduk is a Ukrainian national with German citizenship who worked as a driver. In November 2024, he was detained upon entering Kaliningrad Oblast and remanded in custody on charges of terrorism and explosives-related offences in connection with a gas pipeline explosion in March of that year. The charges rest on a bottle of explosives allegedly ‘found’ in his vehicle, which Haiduk says was planted, and a confession extracted under torture. He faces up to 30 years in a penal colony.
Eight foreign nationals who served in the Ukrainian armed forces are being prosecuted on charges of mercenary activity. Some face additional charges, including the killing of military personnel, terrorism, and weapons possession. Armen Balyan (Armenia) received 12 years in a high-security penal colony, Oscar Jenkins (Australia), Minh Hoang Tran (Czechia/Vietnam), and Krzysztof Flaczek (Poland) each received 13 years, Hayden Davis (United Kingdom) received 15 years, James Anderson (United Kingdom) and Oscar Blanco Lopez (Colombia) each received 19 years, paramedic Pablo Borges (Colombia) received 28 years.
Eleven Azov servicemen held in Russian captivity have been found guilty of participation in a terrorist community and undergoing terrorist training. Oleksandr Azarov, Vladyslav Zarzhytsky, and Hennadii Minakov were sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony. The sentences handed down to Dmytro Hlazkov, Roman Kovpak, Oleksandr Kolitaiev, Kostiantyn Kolchenko, Valerii Korovin, Vladyslav Lukianov, Kostiantyn Nikulin, and Maksym Yuryst are unknown.
Three Ukrainians from Luhansk Oblast were charged with participation in a terrorist community in connection with their service in the ‘Aidar’ battalion during the 2010s. Ivan Sykalo and Hennadii Minin were sentenced to five and a half years; the sentence of Volodymyr Havrylenko is unknown.
You can read more about these cases, including addresses to write to the political prisoners, on our website.
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