Roman Nedostupa
Roman Nedostupa, born 1997. Charges: Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code (Receiving training for the commission of terrorist crimes); 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): 21 years' imprisonment in a strict regime colony. 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
Military personnel · Terrorism cases
Sentence
21 years
imprisonment in a strict regime colony
Upheld June 2, 2026
Charges
- Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code — Receiving training for the commission of terrorist crimes
- 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 the investigation, he underwent training at the training centre of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Yavorivsky polygon" in the village of Starychi in Lviv region. He joined the 24th Separate Assault Battalion "Aidar," where, among other things, he conducted surveillance of servicemen of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), passed information to the command, and participated in combat operations in the Telmanovsky district of the DPR and in the Krymskoye settlement in the Luhansk People's Republic. He used assault rifles and anti-tank grenade launchers, and committed acts in the Ukrainian-occupied territories of the Republic aimed at the violent seizing power and changing the constitutional order of the DPR.
Latest event
June 2, 2026 — appeal
The court upheld the verdict.
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, September 13, 2024
Timeline
· 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 · 21 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
- Sergei Nikitiuk — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Taras Radchenko — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Alexandr Taranets — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Dmitry Fedchenko — Imprisoned, 15 years
- Nikolai Chuprina — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Andrei Sholik — Imprisoned, 16 years
Thematic group: The case of military service in the Aidar Battalion
Write a letter
Facility: Pre-trial detention centre No. 5, Rostov Oblast
Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)
344064, Ростовская область, г. Ростов-на-Дону ул. Тонельная, 4, ФКУ СИЗО-5 ГУФСИН России по Ростовской области, Недоступа Роман Константинович, 1997 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Served in the Ukrainian Aidar battalion, sniper. He was taken prisoner in the spring of 2022 and was in the occupied territory of Donetsk region of Ukraine. A video was recorded with him, in which he says that he voluntarily surrendered and does not agree with the policy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Later in court, Nedostup recanted his words and said he was forced to say on camera what he was told to say. He was charged under a number of 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: Nedostupa was accused of participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation, forcible seizure of power and receiving training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war, so he should not have been held criminally liable actually for participation in hostilities, and in addition, they consider the charges absurd. On 17 October 2025, Nedostupa was sentenced to 21 years in a strict regime colony.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Ukraine
Other people prosecuted under Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.