Antifascist Bogdan Yakimenko Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison
Submitted by Редакция on 13 February, 2026 - 16:34
Other Defendants in the Antifa United Case Receive 2.5 and 3.5 Years.
Judge Ekaterina Stepina of the Izmailovsky District Court of Moscow delivered a verdict to three antifascists in the case of Antifa United, which law enforcement agencies—and now the court as well—consider an “extremist community.”
The investigation and the court deemed Bogdan Yakimenko to be the organizer of Antifa United. Judge Stepina sentenced him to 9 years of imprisonment.
The other defendants, who had remained at liberty prior to the verdict and were treated as “rank-and-file members of an extremist community,” received significantly lighter but still custodial sentences. Roman Chizhikov was sentenced to 3.5 years in a general-regime penal colony, and Ilya Popov to 2.5 years.
It is worth noting that Chizhikov and Popov cooperated with the investigation and gave testimony against Bogdan. In court, they stated that they repented. Nevertheless, law enforcement authorities used them and still sent them to prison.
The fourth defendant in the case was Matvey Ostrovsky. He died during the trial. Despite this, the court found Ostrovsky guilty and terminated the criminal proceedings due to his death.
Bogdan Yakimenko and the other defendants were detained in June 2024. Yakimenko had previously been prosecuted after an attack on him and Mikhail Ivanov by a group of neo-Nazis in 2020. The antifascists spent a year under house arrest, were then placed under travel restrictions, and after an initial verdict—later overturned—spent eight months in a pre-trial detention center (SIZO). In 2023, Bogdan was sentenced to four years of forced labor. At the time of his new arrest, that verdict was under appeal and had not entered into legal force.
Bogdan never hid his views and linked the attention from Anti-extremist Center “E” and the FSB to his antifascist activism. He did not want to leave Russia, studied at a law faculty, and dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
In his final statement, Bogdan said that a guilty verdict would mean that antifascists in Russia are outside the law.
Support Bogdan with a letter! After such a harsh sentence, it is important to feel solidarity and support.
Address for letters and parcels
You should write address in cyrillic letters, and the letters should be written in Russian – you may use automated online tranlation tools.
107076, Россия, г. Москва, ул. Матросская тишина, д. 18, СИЗО-1,
Якименко Богдан Тарасович 1999 г.р.
Russia
Letters can also be sent via the service PrisonMail.Online.
Instructions on how to fill the form:
Region: Moscow
Prison: SIZO-1 FSIN (99/1) Matrosskaya Tishina
Prisoner last name: Якименко
Prisoner first name Богдан
Prisoner Middle name: Тарасович
Prisoner's year of birth: 1999
Antifascism is not a crime!
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