Kherson region resident to stand trial in occupied Melitopol over Telegram comment
In occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Region (Oblast), Russian security officials have referred the case of a 43-year-old resident of Kherson Oblast to a Russian-controlled “court” over a comment posted on Telegram, RIA-Pivden reported.
Illustrative image. Photo credit: Eren LiAccording to the Russian-controlled Investigative Directorate, the man allegedly posted a comment “calling for violence against Russian citizens” in a public Telegram channel in December 2022.
The Russian occupation authorities claim that the investigation is complete and that the case files have been submitted for approval of the indictment before the case is referred to a Russian-controlled “court”. The man faces charges under Part 2 of Article 280 of the Russian Criminal Code for making public calls for extremist activity online.
Russia has not disclosed the man’s name.
You may also want to read: Resistance gone underground: how occupation punishes dissent
As RIA-Pivden noted, the security officials’ statement follows their usual pattern of claiming that the accused “admitted his guilt and expressed remorse”.
ZMINA previously reported that Russian security officials in Melitopol are prosecuting a 38-year-old local man for alleged “public online calls for activities against Russia’s security”.
In another case, a resident of occupied Crimea was fined several thousand roubles in Russia over an online comment.
Follow ZMINA on X, BlueSky and LinkedIn for daily human rights coverage from Ukraine – we invite you to share your feedback on what you’d like to see more of in our survey here.
