October 20, 2026, 1:41 PMRSSRU

Sergey Lukashevsky

Not in RussiaChecked October 18, 2026

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

Verdict November 18, 2024

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.

Checked October 18, 2026 · no changes since October 15

Timeline

  1. · Cassation ruling

    upheld

  2. · First-instance verdict

    guilty verdict · 8 years

  3. · 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

There are no other defendants in this case in the database.

Thematic group: Anti-war case

Details and sources

Full summary

According to OVD-Info

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

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