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Vladimir Domnin, who was sentenced to nine years over allegations of participating in “Right Sector,” has been denied compensation for moral damages for wrongful prosecution. His wife told OVD-Info about this; the project has the relevant documents.

The case was reviewed by the Tverskoy District Court in Moscow on 1 April.

In August 2020, Domnin was sentenced to nine years in a high-security penal colony under charges of participation in the activities of an extremist organisation (Part 2, Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code), participation in an illegal armed group (Part 2, Article 208), as well as possession of weapons and ammunition (Part 1, Article 222). According to the prosecution, in 2015 and 2017 the man travelled to Ukraine to take part in “Right Sector” activities. He did not admit guilt.

In April 2022, the Supreme Court of Russia, in a cassation review, overturned the conviction on the weapons and ammunition possession article owing to the expiry of the statute of limitations and reduced his sentence by two months. It was compensation of one million rubles (approximately US$10,800) for wrongful prosecution under this article that Domnin was seeking.

  • In summer 2022, the prisoner’s wife told OVD-Info that staff at the penal colony were putting pressure on Domnin, trying to force him to “confess to his crimes” and declare support for Putin and the war in Ukraine. He was repeatedly placed in a punishment cell, and in September 2023 was transferred from solitary confinement to a unit with harsher conditions. In February 2024 and again in April 2025, he was hospitalised due to worsening health conditions.
  • According to an assessment by Memorial, Vladimir Domnin’s case is political in nature, and his guilt under the extremist and terrorist articles has not been proven. Domnin admitted that he possessed weapons, but explained his trips to Ukraine by saying that in 2015 he wanted to buy a lorry there, as well as attend a relative’s wedding. In 2017, he planned to collect documents in Ukraine, which he expected would help him obtain political asylum in the United States, where he wished to emigrate.