The creator of the YouTube channel “Trade Union of Buryatia” has been sentenced in absentia to six years over a video.

On 17 July, the 2nd Eastern District Military Court sentenced Ayan Bayande, a blogger who left Buryatia, to six years in a general regime penal colony in absentia over YouTube videos, reported several of the republic’s law enforcement agencies, without naming the person involved.

The name is listed on the court’s website, as Mediazona noted. Bayande was found guilty of incitement to terrorism (Part 2, Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). In addition to the prison term, they have been banned from publishing material online for three years.

According to the investigation in 2021, after leaving Russia, the blogger “posted a video with a personal monologue containing public calls to carry out terrorist activities aimed at preventing the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” It is not known which specific video this refers to. Bayande lives in the United States and runs the YouTube channel “Trade Union of Buryatia.”