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The head of the Moscow Zen Centre and programmer Ilya Vasilyev (Arvi Hacker) faces a requested sentence of eight and a half years in prison in a criminal case concerning alleged military “fakes” (para. “d,” part 2, art. 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code). This was reported by his OVD-Info lawyer, Gevorg Aleksanyan.
The prosecutor has also demanded that Vasilyev be banned from using the internet for four years. The case is being heard by the Preobrazhensky District Court in Moscow.
Vasilyev’s prosecution began in June 2024 over two English-language posts published on Facebook. That same month, the court placed him in a pre-trial detention centre (SIZO). At the end of October, he was officially charged, but the final charges included only one post—about Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to a Christmas ceasefire in 2022. The other post, about the shelling of Dnipro in January 2023, was not included in the final charges.
Vasilyev has faced pressure in the detention centre. He was denied visits from a Buddhist priest and refused medical assistance. In addition, his letters were not delivered to their recipients, as he had used the phrase “political prisoners” in his correspondence. According to a Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) staff member, there are no such people in Russia, only “ordinary prisoners.”
In February 2025, Vasilyev was placed in a punishment cell for 15 days for not keeping his hands behind his back. The programmer himself linked this disciplinary action to his having posed provocative questions in court to the FSB officer who is testifying as a witness in his case.
You can support Ilya Vasilyev by writing him a letter via our Vestočka service or by sending a letter to the following address:
107996, Moscow, Matrosskaya Tishina St, 18, FKU SIZO-1 FSIN Russia, Moscow
For: Vasilyev Ilya Vladimirovich, born 1973