The court reduced the sentence of a resident of Blagoveshchensk, sentenced to three years due to posts about the war, by a month.

The Amur Regional Court reduced the sentence of 53-year-old Vladislav Nikitenko by a month in the case of “discrediting” the army. Instead of three years in prison, he was sentenced to 2 years and 11 months in a maximum security colony, reports . the court's press service

Nikitenko, who studied in Kyiv, lived in Blagoveshchensk and was the founder of the local newspaper “Amur Chronicler”. As a self-taught lawyer, he participated in various proceedings as a public defender and regularly wrote complaints to the courts and law enforcement agencies.

Nikitenko himself was repeatedly subjected to criminal prosecution, and in 2017 he was sent to a colony on charges of slandering a judge, insulting a prosecutor during the trial, and fighting with police during detention. Amurets was released at the end of 2021.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Nikitenko actively criticized the war on Facebook. “BALD BITCH! FUCK YOU DIE, YOU CARRIAGE!” — he wrote on February 24, 2022 about President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, the activist filed statements with all regional military investigative departments of the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation against Vladimir Putin and members of the Security Council, accusing them of starting a war in Ukraine.

A month later, in March 2022, Nikitenko was fined under the administrative article of “discredit” for filing a statement with the police demanding that a case be opened against the governor of the Amur region for supporting the war in Ukraine (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code).

In May, when the Amur man was serving 15 days of arrest for a video with historical footage with a swastika, a criminal case was opened against him for “discredit” because of 10 posts criticizing the war (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). This was one of the first cases in the country of applying the new article.

In December 2022, Nikitenko was sentenced to three years in prison for this case and four other episodes of contempt of court (part 2 of Article 297 of the Criminal Code).

Corrected July 19 at 11:28 am. Initially, the news reported that the activist’s case had been sent for a new trial. Later, the press service of the court clarified that the verdict of the first instance was overturned, the appellate court issued a new one - 2 years and 11 months in a maximum security colony.