Two residents of Yevpatoria were convicted under Art. 105, 148 and 354.1 CC

Ilya Kirichenko was convicted under Art. 105 of the Criminal Code for murder, as well as, together with his girlfriend Alana Korsakova, under Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code for a photo on a military memorial. Korsakova was also found guilty of insulting the feelings of believers (Article 148 of the Criminal Code).

On June 26, 2026, the Supreme Court of Crimea sentenced residents of Yevpatoria, 23-year-old Ilya Kirichenko and 20-year-old Alana Korsakova.

Kirichenko, who was previously convicted of theft, was sentenced to six years and five months of imprisonment in a maximum security colony under Part 1 of Art. 105 (murder) and part 4 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (desecration of symbols of military glory, insult to the memory of defenders of the Fatherland, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy using the Internet). As an additional punishment, the court sentenced him to a year of restriction of freedom and a three-year ban on administering websites, chats, groups on social networks and posting materials on the Internet. In addition, he was assigned compulsory medical measures in the form of outpatient observation and treatment by a psychiatrist (it was previously reported that Kirichenko was registered with a diagnosis of “schizoid personality disorder”). The convicted person was also awarded compensation for moral time in favor of the victim in the amount of 1 million rubles.

His girlfriend Korsakova was convicted under Part 4 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code and Part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code (insulting the religious feelings of believers). The court sentenced her to one year of forced labor with the deduction of 10% of her salary to the state, as well as a ban on administering websites, chats, groups on social networks and posting materials on the Internet for three years.

Charge against Kirichenko under Art. 105 of the Criminal Code was associated with an incident that occurred on July 14, 2025. A resident of Dzhankoy, Erendzhep Memeshev, made a remark to Kirichenko and his companions about their informal appearance (presumably, Kirichenko belongs to the Gothic subculture). During the conflict, Kirichenko, who was intoxicated, inflicted a fatal stab wound on Memeshev in the heart. The incident caused a stir on social networks, where some nationalist channels called this murder forced self-defense from an attack by a “migrant” (although the deceased was not a migrant).

On August 13, 2025, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee for Crimea and Sevastopol stated that during the investigation of the murder it had revealed other facts. They served as the basis for charging Kirichenko and his girlfriend Korsakova under Part 4 of Art. 354.1 CC. As specified in the court's press release about the verdict, the claims of law enforcement agencies were caused by a photograph that Kirichenko took in June 2025: he was photographed at the foot of the monument to paratroopers, holding in his hands a commemorative wreath made in the colors of the Russian tricolor and decorated with the St. George ribbon, while “depicting the deceased.” He sent the photo to his partner Korsakova, and she published it in a certain group in the messenger.

According to Art. 148 of the Criminal Code, Korsakova was accused of publishing in July 2025 an image of Kirichenko “in the form of an imaginary saint (a distorted Christian icon)” on her channel (apparently on Telegram).

Videos of the killing and dissection of animals (in particular, a hedgehog) were also found on the phones of Kirichenko and Korsakova, but they were not charged with this.

Regarding the charges against Kirichenko and Korsakova under Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code, then, let us recall, the status of the symbol of military glory of Russia has been assigned to the St. George Ribbon since December 2022. However, criminal prosecution is justified only in cases of crimes that pose a significant danger to society. The publication of the photograph taken by Kirichenko at the memorial, apparently, was in no way connected with the promotion of violence, hatred or discrimination. Let us also recall that in General Comment No. 34 to Art. 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The UN Human Rights Committee expresses concern about laws regarding acts such as, in particular, disrespect for flags and symbols. As for insulting the memory of non-specific defenders of the Fatherland, the criminalization of acts defined so abstractly, in our opinion, does not meet international legal standards in the field of human rights. Therefore, we consider the persecution of young people under this article to be unlawful.

Regarding prosecution under Part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code, we believe that the vague concept of “insulting the religious feelings of believers” does not and cannot have a clear legal meaning. In cases where publications on religious topics incite hatred towards believers, their authors can be held accountable under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses or 282 of the Criminal Code, however, in Korsakova’s post, apparently, there were no signs of incitement to hatred. For the desecration of objects of religious veneration, such as icons, administrative liability is provided under Part 2 of Art. 5.26 of the Administrative Code, however, we believe that it should protect icons as material objects, and the publication of collages in itself should not be interpreted as their desecration. Thus, we believe that Korsakov should not have been held accountable for this publication at all.

Sources

• A guilty verdict was passed against two residents of Yevpatoria for insulting the memory of heroes // Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea. 2026. June 26.
• Criminal case card No. 1-20/2026 // Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea. 2026. June 26.
• Two young people from Yevpatoria were found guilty of murder and rehabilitation of Nazism (VIDEO) // Russian State Investigative Directorate for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. 2026. June 26.
• A verdict was passed in a criminal case on the rehabilitation of Nazism, insulting the feelings of believers and murder // Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea. 2026. June 26.
• The Prosecutor's Office of Crimea sent to court a criminal case about the rehabilitation of Nazism, insulting the feelings of believers and murder // Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea. 2026. April 6.
• Two young people from Yevpatoria are suspected of rehabilitating Nazism // Investigative Committee of Crimea and Sevastopol. 2025. August 13.
• Friends, the information disseminated by many channels regarding the murder in Evpatoria is false and bears signs of inciting ethnic hatred // TalipoV Online. Telegram. 2025. July 24.
• Criminal case card No. 1-456/2022 // Evpatoria City Court of the Republic of Crimea. 2025. February 20.