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On 29 July, the Supreme Court of Khakassia received a criminal case for insulting the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland (part 4 of Article 354.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) against 49-year-old local resident Denis Savostyanov. This was reported by the press service of the regional prosecutor’s office. The research centre SOVA drew attention to both the case file and the prosecutor’s statement.
The case was initiated in May 2023. According to information from the Investigative Committee from early June, Savostyanov allegedly posted “a message with a negative view of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War” on his social networks. The post was accessible to an unlimited audience. Later, it became known that he was accused over another post he made in December 2024. In that post, law enforcement claims, he insulted the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland and degraded the honour and dignity of veterans. Savostyanov pleaded guilty.
As the Telegram channel Uznіk Abakanа writes, Savostyanov “repeatedly spoke out against the special military operation, posted Ukrainian symbols, and various materials discrediting Victory Day and defenders of the Fatherland from different eras” on his VKontakte page. He also expressed opposition to the Russian authorities and their supporters.
The Telegram channel describes Savostyanov as “an admirer of Navalny” and “a supporter of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which is banned as an extremist organisation in Russia.”
This is not the first criminal case against Savostyanov. In 2021, he was sentenced to two years of suspended imprisonment with a two-year probation period for public calls to extremism (part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code). The exact reason for the prosecution is unknown.
Savostyanov is the son of the well-known scientist-agronomist Vadim Savostyanov, who was a prominent figure in Khakassia, a region in Siberia. The scientist passed away five years ago.