Nikita Kucher
- Criminal Code
- Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Terrorism cases
- Verdict
- Imprisonment (strict regime)
- Sentence
- 14 years
- Date of verdict
- 2025-08-21
- Region
- Occupied territory of Donetska oblast
- Facility
- ФКУ СИЗО-1 ГУФСИН России по Донецкой Народной Республике
- Address for letters
- 283086, Респ. Донецкая Народная, г. Донецк, ул. Кобозева, д. 4, ФКУ СИЗО-1 ГУФСИН России по Донецкой Народной Республике, Кучер Никита Андреевич, 1992 г.р.
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as a political prisonerby Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, 12 February 2026
This is the assessment of the organisation named above, not ours. FACTUM reports it with attribution and does not make its own.
Case summary
He fought in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces. In January 2025, he was added to the list of missing persons in Ukraine's Zhytomyr Region. The same month, the pro-Russian YouTube channel SaveUkraine1313 published a video in which Kucher says that he was forced to go to the front from a colony in Ukraine and berates Ukrainian commanders. A case was opened against him for participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation due to his involvement in the activities of the Noman Chelebidzhikhan battalion. On 21 August 2025, Kucher was sentenced to 14 years in a strict regime colony.
Others charged under Article 205.5 part 2, 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.