Oleg Savvin
Oleg Savvin, born 1988, Kaliningrad 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…); “Oleg Savvin's case”, opened on March 19, 2025. Previously convicted under Article 213 part 2, Russian Criminal Code. Status: imprisoned. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, May 19, 2025; Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, June 28, 2015.
In brief
Kaliningrad Oblast · Kaliningrad · Anti-war cases
Sentence
1 year 1 month
1 year and 1 month of detention; the court decided to release Savvin from custody, as the convict had served this term in the pre-trial detention center during the preliminary investigation and trial
Upheld October 5, 2015
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)
- Article 213 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Full wording of the charges
For hooligan reasons, as part of a group of persons in a prior conspiracy, he placed a German flag on the building of the Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Kaliningrad region, thereby grossly violating public order and insulting veterans of the Great Patriotic War.
Latest event
October 20, 2026 — case status changed
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, May 19, 2025
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, June 28, 2015
- Recognised as a prisoner of conscience — Amnesty International, April 5, 2015
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial Human Rights Centre, July 13, 2014
Timeline
· Preventive measure: travel ban (written undertaking)
· Preventive measure: no preventive measure
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №1 (SIZO-1) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation for Kaliningrad Oblast
· Criminal case opened
Oleg Savvin's case
· Preventive measure: placement in a temporary detention facility
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 1 year 1 month
· Recognised as a prisoner of conscience
Amnesty International
· Persecution ends
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial Human Rights Centre
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №1 (SIZO-1) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation for Kaliningrad Oblast
· Persecution begins
The case of the flag
Criminal case
Oleg Savvin's case
- Case number
- 1-378/2025
Thematic group: Anti-war case
The case of the flag
Other defendants in the case
- Mikhail Feldman — At large, 1 year 2 months
- Dmitry Fonarev — At large, 1 year 1 month
Write a letter
Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)
г. Калининград, ул. А. Невского , 78А, ГБУЗ "Психиатрическая больница Калининградской области" , Саввин Олег Сергеевич, 1988 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Resident of Kaliningrad. On 11 March 2014, he was detained in connection with hanging the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany on the building of the Kaliningrad Region Federal Security Service Directorate. Savvin was first accused of using obscene language and ordered administrative arrest, after which his flat was searched. When the administrative arrest was coming to an end, he was given another term of administrative arrest, again for swearing, and at one of the rallies a few weeks before. At the end of April, he was detained on charges of hooliganism in connection with the display of the FRG flag on the building of the FSB Department, after which he was ordered to be remanded in custody. The investigation claimed that Savvin, together with Dmitrii Fonarev and Mikhail Feldman, committed the act of hooliganism out of hatred for veterans. On 17 June 2015, he was sentenced to a year and a month of imprisonment served in pre-trial detention and released in the courtroom. On 7 October, the court of second instance upheld the sentence, the hate motive was excluded from the charges. In March 2025, a case was brought against Savvin for disseminating deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces because of a post in which he accused the Russian army of crimes against planet Earth in connection with the situation surrounding Ukrainian power plants. On 20 March, he was placed in custody. On 26 December 2025, the court returned the case to the prosecutor's office.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
- Preventive measures
- travel ban (written undertaking)
- Persecution episodes
- 2
Other people prosecuted under Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.