Rights defenders said Yakovenko was examined several days before his death and then returned to the detention center for what Memorial and The Insider described as palliative care.

Yakovenko lived in Ust-Labinsk and had been in custody since May 30, 2025. On October 3 of that year, the Southern District Military Court sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of preparing to take part in the activities of a terrorist organization.

According to the prosecution, on May 28, 2025, Yakovenko exchanged messages with a person involved in recruiting Russians into the Freedom of Russia Legion and sent him a pre-filled application form to join. Two days later, he was detained by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. How the security services learned of the correspondence was not reported.

Memorial suggested Yakovenko may have been the victim of a provocation, noting that only two days passed between the sending of the form and his detention. The rights defenders said they did not have access to the criminal case materials and could not assert whether he actually intended to join the legion. In any case, Memorial argued, he should not have faced criminal prosecution, since the charge rested on the designation of the Freedom of Russia Legion as a terrorist organization.

Yakovenko served the first two years of his sentence in a prison in Yelets. There, according to Memorial, he began suffering bouts of high blood pressure and severe headaches, and his eyesight started to deteriorate, but he was unable to obtain a medical examination at the time. A new case was later opened against him over a poem found in his possession that called for killing Russian soldiers. As The Insider and Memorial noted, the poem contained a great deal of profanity, although Yakovenko's relatives and friends said he did not use such language.

After the new case was opened, Yakovenko was transferred from Yelets to the Krasnodar pre-trial detention center. According to Memorial, he was beaten at that facility even before the verdict was handed down.

The Insider calculated that Yakovenko was at least the ninth political prisoner to die in Russian custody since the start of 2026.