Dmitry Fedchenko
Charges: Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization); Article 278, Russian Criminal Code (Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order); “The case of fifteen servicemen in the Aidar battalion”. Sentence (October 17, 2025): 15 years imprisonment in a maximum security prison. Status: imprisoned; deprived of liberty since June 2, 2026; place of detention: Pre-trial detention centre No. 5, Rostov Oblast. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, September 13, 2024.
In brief
Former military personnel, Drivers · Terrorism cases
Sentence
15 years
imprisonment in a maximum security prison
Upheld June 2, 2026
Charges
- Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization
- Article 278, Russian Criminal Code — Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order
Full wording of the charges
According to investigators, he joined the 24th separate assault battalion “Aidar,” where, among other things, he conducted surveillance on servicemen of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), passed information to the command, and participated in hostilities in the Telmanovsky district of the DPR and the settlement of Krymskoye in the Lugansk People's Republic, used automatic weapons and anti-tank grenade launchers, and carried out actions in the territories of the Republic occupied by Ukraine aimed at the violent seizure of power and the change of the constitutional order of the DPR.
Latest event
June 22, 2026 — added to the rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, September 13, 2024
Timeline
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Removed from the Rosfinmonitoring list
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· Imprisonment begins
Pre-trial Detention Centre №5 (SIZO-5) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Rostov Oblast
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 15 years
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Persecution begins
The case of fifteen servicemen in the Aidar battalion
Criminal case
The case of fifteen servicemen in the Aidar battalion
- Case number
- 1-21/2025 (1-49/2024; 1-211/2023;)
Other defendants in the case
- Viacheslav Baidiuk — Imprisoned, 16 years
- Igor Gaiokha — Imprisoned, 18 years
- Vitalii Gruzinov — Imprisoned, 21 years
- Vladislav Ermolinskii — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Semen Zabairachnyi — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Sergei Kalinchenko — Imprisoned, 21 years
- Vitalii Krokhalev — Imprisoned, 16 years
- Vladimir Makarenko — Imprisoned, 18 years
- Roman Nedostupa — Imprisoned, 21 years
- Sergei Nikitiuk — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Taras Radchenko — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Alexandr Taranets — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Nikolai Chuprina — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Andrei Sholik — Imprisoned, 16 years
Thematic group: The case of military service in the Aidar Battalion
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Details and sources
Full summary
He served as a driver in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On March 17, 2022, he was detained in the occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. He was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. After the Russian Federation declared the DPR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: Fedchenko was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization in connection with his involvement in the activities of the Aidar battalion (although the battalion is not mentioned in any of his documents) and the violent seizure of power. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war, so he should not have been prosecuted for participating in hostilities, and furthermore, they consider the charges absurd. On October 17, 2025, Fedchenko was sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime colony.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Ukraine
Other people prosecuted under Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.