Garri Azarian
- Criminal Code
- Article 205.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Terrorism cases
- Verdict
- Imprisonment (general regime)
- Sentence
- 2 years
- Date of verdict
- 2026-02-11
- Region
- Saint Petersburg
- City
- Saint Petersburg
- Address for letters
- 196655, Ленинградская область, г. Колпино, Колпинская ул., д. 9, ФКУ СИЗО-1 УФСИН России по Санкт-Петербургу и Ленинградской области "Кресты", Азарян Гарри Эдуардович, 2002 г.р.
Case summary
Student at St Petersburg State University. On 15 May 2025, he was detained on charges of calling for terrorism. The next day he was taken into custody. According to the investigators' version, he is a member of the radical movement "Workers Power" and called for terrorist activities and mass murder.
In mid-April 2025, the police detained Artem Pronko, a second-year student of the political science faculty of St. Petersburg State University, during classes. According to their version, he suspended a mannequin of the goddess of wisdom Minerva from the monument to Count Uvarov near the Twelve Colleges building. The figure was suspended by the neck from the leg of the monument. Nearby was a note: "Science is dead." Pronko claimed he had nothing to do with the action. He was fined 20 thousand rubles under the administrative article on organising an uncoordinated event (part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
After the action, RIA "Novosti" reported that law enforcement agencies had identified a group of students with left-wing radical views, which was involved in the action. It was alleged that it was a cell of the UK-based left-radical Organisation of Communists-Internationalists called "Workers Power".
Friends of Garri Azarian deny information about his radical statements.
On 12 January 2026 Azarian's preventive measure was changed to prohibition of certain actions. On 11 February, the court sentenced him to two years in a colony settlement.
Others charged under Article 205.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
What we write about political persecution
Recent material from this section. This is section navigation — the articles below are not about this person.
- 2026-09-04Georgia court clears extradition of Fugal ally to Russia
- 2026-09-04Russia labels Novaya Gazeta a 'foreign agent,' adds over 100 affiliated names
- 2026-09-04Russian court sentences hostage-takers from Rostov detention center to up to 29 years
- 2026-09-04Two Yabloko Duma candidates detained in Moscow two days before vote
- 2026-09-03British man says Russian police beat him, jumped on his head at station in Yessentuki
Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database
Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.
OVD-Info has been designated an «extremist» organisation in Russia — by decision of the Russian authorities, like other independent human rights and media projects.