Vladyslav Shpak
- Criminal Code
- Article 205.3, Russian Criminal CodeArticle 205.4 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Terrorism cases
- Verdict
- Imprisonment (strict regime)
- Sentence
- 21 years
- Date of verdict
- 2025-08-07
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as a political prisonerby Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, 1 May 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
Ukrainian serviceman. On 17 May 2022, he was captured during the defence of Azovstal. A case was opened against him for participation in the activities of a terrorist community and undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities due to his involvement in the activities of the Azov battalion.
Mediazona reports that during the debate the prosecution asked Shpak to be sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony, after which the judge returned the case to the stage of judicial investigation. During the repeated arguments, the prosecutor requested 22 years. At that, he referred to the Amnesty International report on the crimes of the Ukrainian military. The judge countered that Amnesty International was recognised as an "undesirable" organisation in the Russian Federation.
On 7 August 2025, Shpak was sentenced to 21 years in a strict regime colony.
Others charged under Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code
What we write about political persecution
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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.