A resident of Kuban convicted for calls to violence has decided to challenge the sentence.

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A resident of Abinsk, Yuri Svetlakov, has been sentenced to three years of forced labor for messages in a Telegram chat that the court recognized as public calls for extremist activity. He decided to file a cassation appeal against the sentence.

A resident of Kuban, Yuri Svetlakov, told a correspondent from "Caucasian Knot" on July 21 that he considers the sentence harsh and disproportionate to his actions. He explained that he does not have a lawyer, so he missed the appeal deadline, but decided to make up for it by preparing a cassation appeal.

According to the materials of the indictment (a copy is available to "Caucasian Knot"), 51-year-old resident of Abinsk, Yuri Svetlakov, was charged with two episodes under part 2 of article 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public calls for extremist activity using the Internet). The indictment was approved on March 24, 2026, by the Deputy Prosecutor of the Krasnodar Territory, I.A. Bondar.

According to the investigation, Svetlakov, sharing ideas about the independence of Kuban from the Russian Federation, had been a participant in the open thematic Telegram chat "Malinovy Chat" since September 2024. According to the investigation documents, on October 20 and 29, 2024, from his mobile phone under the nickname "Something like that...", the accused published comments in the specified chat. A comprehensive linguistic examination conducted on February 24, 2026, concluded that these texts contained calls for violent actions against a group of people distinguished by national characteristics.

During the investigation, Svetlakov fully admitted his guilt. He explained that he was under the influence of ideas of regional self-determination and expressed his political position, but was aware of the public nature of his messages.

As evidence of the accusation, witness testimonies who discovered the publications in the messenger, materials from operational-search activities (OSA), and the smartphone seized from Svetlakov were included in the case. During the examination of the device, law enforcement also recorded subscriptions to several opposition and Ukrainian Telegram channels and saved caricature images.

On May 5, 2026, the Abinsk District Court found Svetlakov guilty on both episodes, taking into account the partial accumulation of penalties (part 2 of article 69 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and imposed a final sentence of three years of forced labor with a deduction of 15% of earnings to the state, as well as deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the publication of materials on the Internet for a period of three years.

The sentence has entered into legal force. Currently, Svetlakov is preparing a cassation appeal to the Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction requesting a mitigation of the sentence and the application of article 73 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (suspended sentence).

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