The Leader of Format 18 Neo-nazi Group Convicted in Moscow

On February 18, 2008, in Moscow, Maxim Martsinkevich (alias Tesak) was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in a standard regime penal colony, for public incitement of hatred committed in a group (paragraph "c", part 2, article 282 of the Criminal Code).

He was arrested in summer 2007 for an intervention at a political debate in one of the Moscow clubs.

The prosecution had asked for a less severe punishment (3 years of settled colony, a penal colony with a more liberal regime).

We should underline, that this sentence is the most severe one that has ever been given for any non-violent crime of propaganda in Russia. Presumably, the court gave Martsinkevich this disproportionately long term to unofficially prosecute him for his other activities.