Mikhail Afanasiev
Mikhail Afanasiev, born 1976, Khakassia. Charges: Article 207.3 part 2 item a, Russian Criminal Code (Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government…); “Mikhail Afanasyev's case of "fakes" about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine in Abakan”. Sentence (September 7, 2023): 5 years 6 months' deprivation of liberty with a ban on publishing materials in the media and on the Internet for 2 years… Status: imprisoned; deprived of liberty since April 13, 2022; place of detention: Penal colony No. 35, Khakassia. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, June 22, 2022.
In brief
Khakassia · Abakan · Journalists, Politicians · Anti-war cases
Sentence
5 years 6 months
deprivation of liberty with a ban on publishing materials in the media and on the Internet for 2 years 6 months
Upheld July 25, 2024
Charges
- Article 207.3 part 2 item a, Russian Criminal Code — Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries (using an official position, a group of individuals, falsification of evidence, for selfish motives, or out of hatred)
Full wording of the charges
The reason for the case was a text published in the Novy Focus newspaper about Special Police Force officers from Khakassia who refused to go to the war in Ukraine: in it, according to the investigation, Afanasyev indicated inaccurate information about the number of dead, missing and wounded, about the inadequate level of material support, about improper performance of duties by the management staff.
Latest event
July 25, 2024 — cassation
The court upheld the verdict.
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, June 22, 2022
Timeline
· Cassation ruling
upheld
· Imprisonment begins
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 5 years 6 months
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №1 (SIZO-1) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation for the Republic of Khakassia
· Persecution begins
Mikhail Afanasyev's case of "fakes" about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine in Abakan
· Preventive measure: placement in a temporary detention facility
Criminal case
Mikhail Afanasyev's case of "fakes" about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine in Abakan
- Case number
- 1-298/2023
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Write a letter
Facility: Penal colony No. 35, Khakassia
Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)
655017, Республика Хакасия, г. Абакан, кв. Молодёжный, 11, ФКУ «ИК № 35 УФСИН России по Республике Хакасия», Афанасьев Михаил Вячеславович, 1976 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Resident of Abakan. Editor of the publication Novy Focus. In 2009, a libel case was brought against Afanasyev in connection with the publication that after the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP accident Afanasyev wrote in his Internet diary that there were still people alive in the flooded premises, but the authorities were doing nothing to save them. The case was soon dropped. "Novaya Gazeta" claims that a total of at least 14 criminal cases were brought against Afanasyev before the war because of his professional activities.
He was detained on 13 April 2022 after a search in the case of spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces. On 15 April, the court ruled to take him into custody. On 17 November, the court returned the case to the prosecutor's office, and in March 2023 the case was sent back to court. On 7 September 2023 Afanasyev was sentenced to five and a half years in a general regime colony. On 28 September, the court liquidated the Novy Focus publication.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 207.3 part 2 item a, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.