Former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves cast doubt on claims that people in Russia are actually sent to prison for eight years over posts about Bucha and the actions of the Russian army during the occupation of the town. Replying on X to a message about two acquaintances who had received more than eight years for comments about Bucha, he said he doubted such sentences and added that “we are used to lies.”
After that, OVD-Info said that at least 13 people had received real prison terms of eight years or more for media publications, comments, and videos about the war in Ukraine. According to the group, six of them were convicted under the “fake news” article specifically for statements about Bucha. Another 25 people received such sentences in absentia.
Sergey Davidis, a member of the board of the Memorial human rights center, also compiled a separate list of people sentenced specifically for social media posts about Bucha. He stressed that the list is knowingly incomplete, because case materials do not always specify which particular episodes or alleged crimes were referenced.
Who has been sentenced
Among the examples cited are blogger Igor Yakunichev, who received 12 years in September 2025 for anti-war publications, including videos about the killings of civilians in Bucha; Dmitry Ivanov, author of the “Protest MSU” channel, who was sentenced to 8.5 years; Altai journalist Sergey Mikhailov, who received 8 years; and Kirov resident Richard Rose, who was sentenced to 8 years for VK posts.
The list also includes Konstantin Seleznyov, Olga Menshikh, Ilya Yashin, Anna Bazhutova, Roman Ivanov, Andrey Lugovoy, Ruben Pogosyan, and others prosecuted under “fake news” and anti-war speech cases. A number of defendants received sentences ranging from 3 to 8.5 years, while some others, including Veronika Belotserkovskaya, Konstantin Sonin, Mikhail Zygar, Pyotr Verzilov, Alexander Nevzorov, Maksim Katz, and Dmitry Gudkov, were convicted in absentia.
Novaya Gazeta Europe notes that these are only some of the known cases. According to rights advocates, the criminal prosecution of publications, comments, reposts, and broadcasts mentioning the killings of civilians in Bucha is considerably broader in scope.