The Leninsky District Court of Saransk sentenced 69-year-old human rights activist Sergey Maryin to a year in a penal colony under a criminal case for repeated «discrediting» the army, reported «OVD-Info»* his lawyer Andrey Kuryatnikov. Maryin was also given a two-year ban on administering internet resources and posting publications online.
The prosecution requested a sentence of one and a half years in a penal colony for the human rights activist. Maryin did not plead guilty and asked to be acquitted.
The reason for the criminal prosecution of the human rights activist was his post and comment on «VKontakte», published on February 24, 2024. They concerned the anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine and the death of politician Alexei Navalny**. «Today is the ninth day since the death of Alexei Navalny, a foreign agent, terrorist, and extremist according to Putin. Today is the anniversary of the war with Ukraine. There, according to Putin, it is necessary to denazify, that is, to kill all Ukrainians», Maryin wrote in the post.
The criminal case was initiated in the summer of 2024. After a search and interrogation, Maryin was released under a travel restriction.
In 2022, the human rights activist was fined 40,000 rubles under an administrative case for «discrediting» the army for comments on «VKontakte», in which he condemned the invasion of Ukraine.
Sergey Maryin has been defending the rights of prisoners in Mordovia for about 20 years and represents their interests in legal disputes with representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service. In the 2010s, he was a member of the Public Monitoring Commission of Mordovia for several years, which allowed him to visit colonies and pre-trial detention centers as an observer and publicize violations. He was also an expert of the «In Defense of Prisoners' Rights» foundation, founded by human rights activist Lev Ponomarev*.
* Recognized as «foreign agents» in Russia.
** Included in the list of «terrorists and extremists».