A military court sentenced a 39-year-old resident of Kazan to five and a half years in a penal colony for six comments in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

      In addition, Arthur Sagiev was banned from administering websites for three years. The Central District Military Court found 39-year-old Kazan resident Arthur Sagiev guilty of "justifying terrorism" and sentenced him to five and a half years in a penal colony. This is reported by SotaVision. Furthermore, he was banned from administering websites for three years. According to the publication, Sagiev was detained in July of last year. Law enforcement accused him of publishing messages from August to October 2024 that, according to an expert examination, contained "a set of signs justifying destructive actions" with the aim of "publicly influencing the consciousness and will of people, conveying to users the ideology and practices of terrorism." What exactly Sagiev wrote was not disclosed by SotaVision. At the same time, the headline of the news states that the man was sentenced "due to six comments on Telegram supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine." The court also ordered the confiscation of the "instrument of the crime" — Sagiev's iPhone 11 — into state ownership. Initially, according to SotaVision, the man was charged with six episodes of "justifying terrorism" (this is also mentioned in the case card on the court's website), "but in the verdict, the court took into account the admission of guilt, remorse, and active assistance in the investigation and combined all episodes into one." Local media, including the newspaper "Respublika Tatarstan" and the publication KazanFirst, reported on the search at Sagiev's place last summer. According to them, he was accused of publications supporting "terrorist attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of Russia." KazanFirst, citing the FSB, referred to the case participant as a "supporter of the extremist movement 'LGBT' and radical opposition." The trial of Arthur Sagiev, judging by the case card, started in November of last year. Five court sessions have taken place. SotaVision reports that Sagiev was previously fined twice under the administrative article for "discrediting" the army due to comments in the Telegram messenger. In the first case, he was accused of "expressing joy that the Russian Armed Forces' electronic suppression equipment was not functioning," and in the second — wishing the Ukrainian army improvements in weaponry to defeat Russia. In November 2024, the Privolzhsky District Court of Kazan arrested Sagiev for 15 days under the article for "inciting hatred" due to a comment under a news article about a drone attack on an oil refinery in Moscow. According to human rights defenders from the "First Department," from 2022 to June 2025, verdicts were issued in 2,590 cases under all so-called terrorist articles (there are six; among them, for example, justifying terrorism and aiding terrorism). On average, in 2025, courts issued more than five sentences under terrorist articles every day, human rights defenders calculated. Subscribe to our channel on Telegram.