In Russia, for the first time, a schoolchild was sentenced under the article of “treason”

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Adygea sentenced 18-year-old resident of the city of Maikop Kevin Lik to four years in a penal colony in a case of “treason.” Thus, he became the youngest person involved in this article, writes the BBC Russian Service.

According to investigators, Lik, “being in disagreement with the political course” of Russia and the war in Ukraine, photographed the deployment of Russian military equipment and sent the pictures to the e-mail of a “representative of a foreign state.” It is unknown with whom he corresponded. Moreover, he began taking photographs himself on December 23, 2021, that is, even before the start of the full-scale invasion.

At the time of sentencing, Lik was 18 years old; at the beginning of the “commitment of the crime” he was 16. The prosecutor requested four and a half years for Lik. As mitigating circumstances, the judge took into account being a minor at the time of the crime, “sincere repentance for what he had done,” positive characteristics at the place of residence and study, the presence of chronic diseases and “multiple victories at various Olympiads.”

According to the BBC, Lik was detained in February 2023. Shortly before this, his mother Victoria Lik was arrested for 10 days for “obscene language” at the military registration and enlistment office. According to lawyer Evgeny Smirnov, who collaborates with the human rights project “First Department,” administrative arrest is often applied to those involved in treason cases before sending them to a pre-trial detention center for a criminal case. It is possible that initially the security forces wanted to impute the article of “treason” to the mother of the teenager.

Kevin Lik’s VKontakte page states that he studies at the Republican Science and Mathematics School at the Adyghe State University. The student repeatedly became the winner of Olympiads in German language and history.

According to several of Lik’s acquaintances, in November 2022 he left for Moscow, transferring to another school.