Technician at the Kurchatov Institute faces 8-year prison sentence over anti-war content on a computer forum

Prosecutors have requested an eight-year sentence in a general-regime penal colony and a four-year ban on administering websites for Dmitry Bogmut, an employee of the Kurchatov Institute, RusNews’ courtroom correspondent reports.

“I cannot accept or understand the current glorification of war, and I strongly oppose it,” Bogmut said in his final statement. “From my point of view, resolving any global conflicts, problems, or disputes through military force is monstrous. Any war brings only blood, suffering, and death.”

Bogmut is being tried on charges of spreading “war fakes” motivated by hatred (Point “d”, Part 2, Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code). The case is being heard at the Gatchina City Court in the Leningrad Region. He was detained and placed in pretrial detention in the spring of 2024. The press service of St. Petersburg courts previously stated that he had disseminated “texts, videos, and images containing knowingly false information,” including a Deutsche Welle video review titled “Attack on Pavlohrad: How Putin Is Preparing for a Defensive War and Undermining the Combat Capability of the Russian Army.”

During the trial, it emerged that Bogmut had posted his comments about the war on the iXBT computer forum, in a closed political section accessible to about 12 users, some of whom supported Russia’s aggression.

The physicist later retracted the testimony he had given during the investigation, in which he admitted guilt and expressed remorse. He said he had falsely incriminated himself due to psychological pressure from a cellmate. “I had no intent to spread knowingly false information; my intent was to spread truthful information,” Bogmut said, explaining why he does not plead guilty.

The defendant also spoke about violence and humiliation by law enforcement officers during his detention. In particular, he said that during a search of his workplace he was forced to kneel for two hours, officers “made him pronounce Ukrainian words out loud,” demanded that he apologize on camera, and before taking him to court for the hearing on pretrial detention, did not allow him to put on outdoor trousers — he appeared at the hearing wearing only under trousers.

Before his arrest, Bogmut worked as a laboratory technician in neutron physico-chemical research at the St. Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics, which is part of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute.”