5-year sentence in Russian-occupied Berdiansk for social media posts about defenders of Ukraine

Russia’s notorious Southern District Military Court in Rostov has sentenced Mykola Holubov to five years’ imprisonment on absurd charges linked with posts on the VKontakte social network.  The aggressor state has charged a Ukrainian under Russian legislation with ‘justifying terrorism’ for comments about the Azov Regiment soldiers who are defending Ukraine. 

35-year-old Mykola Holubov was seized by Russia’s FSB in occupied Berdiansk (Zaporizhzhia oblast) on 9 November 2023.  In reporting the ‘arrest’, the Centre for Journalist Investigations [CJI] noted that the Russians had been carrying out mass raids and searches in occupied Zaporizhzhia, with some made public as a means of terrorising other Ukrainians.  The message in this case was entirely clear: you too could be seized and, probably, tortured for pro-Ukrainian comments on social media.  CJI has learned from other Berdiansk residents that Holubov had actively posted comments on various social media platforms before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Berdiansk was one of the first cities that the Russians seized, and it has been under Russian occupation since 27 February 2022.  Russia is now claiming that the parts of Ukraine it occupies, as well as the unoccupied parts of the four oblasts in question, including Zaporizhzhia oblast, are ‘part of Russia’ and is aggressively installing its censorship and repression.

Holubov’s seizure was first reported on 9 November 2023 by pro-Russian Telegram channels.  Within an hour, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that criminal proceedings had been initiated over alleged ‘public calls to carry out terrorist activities’.  It was claimed that “in February 2023, the suspect used his own page on one of the social network communities to leave a comment in which he called for the destruction of Russian soldiers and also gave a positive assessment of the actions of members of the Ukrainian militarized nationalist association ‘Azov’ which is banned in the Russian Federation.”

Correction is required, and not only because Holub, a Ukrainian citizen, was commenting from his home in Ukrainian Berdiansk, which Russia is illegally occupying.  Russia is a signatory to the Geneva Convention which unequivocally prohibits Russia, as an occupying state, from applying its legislation on Ukrainian territory and / or against Ukrainian citizens.   The claim that ‘Azov’ is some kind of ‘militarized nationalist’ organization is also deliberately misleading.  The Azov Regiment is a part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, and its soldiers are defending their country. The ruling from Russia’s Supreme court on 2 August 2022, declaring it to be ‘a terrorist and extremist organization’ and banning its activities was an evidently political move aimed at excusing Russia’s illegal persecution of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians.  The suggestion that a Ukrainian expressing support for Ukrainian soldiers defending their country against an invading force was ‘calling to terrorist activities’ is grotesque cynicism.  In March 2024, Russia added Holubov to its huge ‘List of extremists and terrorists’, a register which often corresponds closely to the list of political prisoners from Russia and occupied Crimea compiled by the authoritative Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project.

Worth noting that, back in November 2023, no mention was made of posts about the Free Russia Legion, although these were later reported to form part of the charges. This would explain the two counts of ‘public calls to carry out terrorist activities’ under Article 205.2 § 2, with the same Russian Supreme court having labelled the Legion ‘terrorist’ on 16 March 2023.

As has been the case in occupied Crimea and Donbas since 2014, news of the ‘arrest’ was accompanied by a video showing Holubov’s ‘confession’.  We know from all those who have since been released, or at least allowed an independent lawyer, that such ‘confessions’ are obtained under duress, typically through the use of electric shock and other forms of torture.   

The ‘case’ against Holubov was passed to the Southern District Military Court on 6 March 2024, however several hearings were postponed.  It is unclear whether Holubov had an independent lawyer, with ‘investigators’ very often seeking to prevent detainees receiving such representation and, likely, retracting ‘confessions’ obtained while held incommunicado.  The 5-year sentence was passed by ‘judge’ Aleksei Abdulmazhitovich Magomadov, who has already taken part in passing huge sentences against Crimean Tatar political prisoners.