“Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is in itself unlawful.” – Memorial
Sergei Suptelya was sentenced on 17 June 2026 to five years’ imprisonment on a charge of spreading ‘fake news’ about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), – a charge which has been widely used to punish criticism of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He had been in custody since 29 October 2025.
Memorial reports that Suptelya was accused of posting the following text on 16 October 2022 on the Telegram channel Yura, I’m Sorry:
‘NATO still hasn’t shown up for the war, but the residents of Belgorod are already hiding in basements, fleeing from Russian Orthodox missiles. Listen to this local resident’s vivid description of the current situation. The most interesting part is at the end.’
Memorial notes that, attached to the comment, was a video in which a man showed himself going down into a basement and explained that Belgorod residents have to hide not only from ‘Ukrainian-Slavic’ missiles and Russian missiles ‘that aren’t even third-rate‘ and whose trajectory is unpredictable, but also from Russian air defence systems. At the end of the video, the speaker claims that there are a couple more rooms where ‘that bitch of a mother-in-law and that asshole of a father-in-law, who were so happy Crimea Is Ours, can be found.’
Sergei has been recognised as a political prisoner by Memorial, which argues that his prosecution and conviction were politically motivated and violated his right to freedom of expression. Memorial has called for his immediate release, stating that he was deprived of liberty ‘in violation of the right to freedom of expression.’
Sergei Suptelya is originally from the Donetsk region of Ukraine and worked at Rosreestr, the official body that registers ownership of property, in St. Petersburg for the past seven years. A citizen of the Russian Federation, it is believed he may also have Ukrainian citizenship.
“Although we do not know exactly which statements served as the basis for Sergei Suptelya’s criminal prosecution and imprisonment, we consider him a political prisoner because of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is in itself unlawful. One week after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on 4 March 2022, the State Duma of the Russian Federation, acting under emergency procedures […] adopted laws amending the Code of Administrative Offences and the Criminal Code. These laws prohibit calls for sanctions to be imposed on Russia, the intentional dissemination of information ‘known to be false’ about the Russian armed forces, their discrediting, as well as calls to ‘impede their deployment.’ On the same day, the laws were approved by the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, and the president signed them that evening. The amendments took effect on the date of their official publication — 4 March 2022. Subsequently, the wording of Article 207.3 was amended several times. According to the version dated 25 December 2023, the offence provided for in Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is formulated as follows: ‘The public dissemination, under the guise of credible reports, of information known to be false containing details regarding the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, to maintain international peace and security, or regarding the exercise by state bodies of the Russian Federation of their powers outside the territory of the Russian Federation.”
– Memorial, 18 February 2026
Write to Sergei Suptelya
The Russian penal system does not allow any messages to prisoners that are written in foreign languages, but Write to Russia is here to help you. To show your support for Sergei Suptelya please send your letter as an email to us at: le******************@********il.com. We’ll translate your letter into Russian and, depending on your request, either mail the translated letters on your behalf to Sergei Suptelya, or return the letters to you by email for posting in an envelope with addresses written in Russian. If we send the letter on your behalf, we ask that you compensate us for the cost of postage from the UK (currently £3.60 [$4.89; €4.17] for one letter). For suggestions on what to write to a political prisoner, click here. To learn more about our letter writing project, click here: Write to Russia.
You can write to Sergei Suptelya at the following address:
Russian Federation – 196655, г. Санкт-Петербург, г. Колпино, ул. Колпинская, д. 9, стр. 1, ФКУ СИЗО-1 ГУФСИН России по г. Санкт-Петербургу и Ленинградской области, Суптеля Сергей Николаевич, 1978 г. р.
Text by James Lofthouse
The persons unjustly imprisoned in Russia whose plight our project Write to Russia has highlighted to date can be found at this link:
