In St Petersburg, a student has been sentenced to actual prison time for speaking at a meeting of left-wing activists.

The First Western District Military Court has sentenced Harry Azaryan, a student at SPSU, to two years in an open-regime penal colony on charges of justifying terrorism (Part 1, Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by “Bumaga.”

Prior to this, Azaryan had spent eight months in a pre-trial detention centre. Since each day in detention counts for two days in an open-regime colony, if the sentence takes effect, he will have about eight months left to serve in the colony.

The prosecution had requested a three-year general-regime colony sentence.

The student admitted guilt. At his request, the court considered the case in a special procedure—without examining the evidence. Azaryan asked for a fine to be imposed instead.

In his final statement he said that at the “Workers’ Power” congress in January 2025 he had made a remark which became the grounds for prosecution “to attract the attention of an already rather weary audience.”

I want to emphasise that I had no intention of inciting people to violence, overthrowing the authorities, or anything of that sort. However, I recognise that these words were spoken, recorded and heard, and could have been interpreted differently. It was extremely irresponsible on my part. I realise that my statements could have created a false impression for some people.

I deeply regret my words. I believe that neither theoretical arguments nor the excitement of debate nor anything else can justify such statements. I regard them as extremely outrageous and sincerely hope that the court will take this into account,” he said in court.

• Azaryan was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention centre in May 2025. He remained there until January 2026. Due to the criminal proceedings, he was expelled from SPSU.
• “Mediazona” found out that he was accused of justifying terrorism because of a speech at a left-wing activists’ gathering, in which he spoke about class hatred and violence. According to a source from the outlet, the student said that rising contradictions and discontent in society lead to revolutions, which never occur without violence: “People will take to the streets and kill—there are no revolutions without that.” At the same time, he also said: “Our task is not to incite hatred, we are not extremists. Our task is to explain to people that capitalism is to blame.”