A student from Murmansk was sentenced to 15 years in prison in a case of treason and terrorism due to the Free Lapland channel.

On May 27, the Northern Fleet Military Court sentenced Rafael Mamedov, a student from Murmansk, to 15 years in prison in the case of treason and participation in a terrorist organization, his support channel reported on Telegram, OVD-Info noted .

He will have to spend the first three years in prison, and the remaining term in a maximum security colony.

As OVD-Info previously reported, the case was based on the Free Lapland telegram channel, which was administered by Mamedov: it published memes, photographs, facts from the history and mythology of the region, as well as posts criticizing the Russian authorities and discussing the need to preserve the cultural identity of the peoples of the northwestern regions of Russia.

In November 2024, the Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, recognized the “Forum of Free States of Post-Russia” and “172 of its structural divisions” as “terrorist organizations.” Among them, according to the FSB register , was the non-existent “Free Lapland movement (Kolandia, Republic of Lapland).”

In May 2025, Mamedov was detained in a criminal case for connections with terrorism and sent to a pre-trial detention center - before the persecution, he was a third-year student at the Arctic University majoring in digital sociology, Memorial reported .

In May 2026, Mamedov was charged with treason. The support group claimed that he was accused of this article because of the same publications in the channel. Rafael Mamedov did not admit his guilt.

“During his imprisonment, Mamedov tried to commit suicide twice. In the pre-trial detention center, he inflicted cuts on his neck and arms, and then during the transfer he tried to hang himself with a belt, but the guard prevented him,” notes OVD-Info.