Ruslan Akhmetshin

Affiliated media: Alexey Navalny’s Arkhangelsk office, Former photographer

Incident date: October 26, 2022

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Telegram channel «Sota»

Location: Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Arkhangelsk

Additional information:

Arkhangelsk Regional Court sentenced Ruslan Akhmetshin, a former photographer for Alexey Navalny’s Arkhangelsk office, to two and a half years in a penal colony on charges of Nazi rehabilitation (Parts 1 and 4 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). As an additional punishment, he was sentenced to a ban on administrating websites for three years. Akhmetshin was tried for posts and comments on VKontakte: in particular, for reposting the text of publicist Viktor Shenderovich, comments on the role of the USSR and Germany in the beginning of World War II, words that instead of holding the Victory Day parade the state should give money to veterans. The case against Akhmetshin was initiated in March. Initially, the preventive measure for him was a ban on certain actions; in May, the attempt to fly to Armenia resulted in his arrest.