Sergey Lukashevsky
Sergey Lukashevsky, born 1975, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Charges: Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code (Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government…); “Sergei Lukashevsky's case of "fakes" about the Russian Armed Forces”. Sentence (November 18, 2024): 8 years' imprisonment in absentia, prohibition to administer websites for 1 year. Status: not in Russia.
In brief
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast · Nizhny Novgorod · Human rights defenders · Anti-war cases, Cases against "foreign agents"
Sentence
8 years
imprisonment in absentia, prohibition to administer websites for 1 year
Upheld August 21, 2025
Charges
- Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code — Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries (based on political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or on grounds of hatred or enmity in relation to any social group)
Full wording of the charges
Lukashevsky is charged with five publications on Facebook: A post about the murders of Bucha residents and a reminder of the murders in Novye Aldy, a text with the words "Having started a war to subjugate Ukraine, Russia is destroying Ukrainian towns and villages, killing and enslaving the people living there", a text with the words "Unjust invasion war, deaths of women, children, and the elderly, violence and looting, destroying cities to the ground - it is impossible to look at the countless war crimes, the meanness and lies when they are committed by your own country, in its name", text with the words "Through the bitterness of thinking about those who have already been killed, wounded, rendered homeless by this terrible war .... "All the horrors that the Russian army and special services are committing in Ukraine today - the shelling of civilian targets, kidnapping,s and summary executions, referendums at gunpoint - took place in the North Caucasus many years ago. All of this was painstakingly, consistently, and at the risk of lives reported by Memorial" - as well as participation in the broadcast "War as a Moral Catastrophe", where he spoke about the murders, looting, robberies, and rapes committed by the Russian military in Ukraine.
Latest event
August 21, 2025 — cassation
The court upheld the verdict.
Timeline
· Cassation ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 8 years
· Persecution begins
Sergei Lukashevsky's case of "fakes" about the Russian Armed Forces
Criminal case
Sergei Lukashevsky's case of "fakes" about the Russian Armed Forces
- Case number
- 1-174/2024
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Details and sources
Full summary
Former director of the Sakharov Centre. Left Russia after the outbreak of war. A case was brought against him for spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces. On 18 November 2024 Lukashevsky was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.