Blogger Valentin Shlyakov, who was convicted over statements made on his YouTube channel, has been released from the penal colony.

YouTube blogger Valentin Shlyakov, who was convicted for making calls to extremism and terrorism online, has been released from Correctional Colony No. 4 in Torzhok, a town in western Russia.

He told OVD-Info that the first thing he plans to do after his release is look for a job and a place to live: “Because I am left with no money, no job, absolutely nothing. I don’t even know who to turn to for help.”

Due to a three-year ban on administering websites, the blogger will not be able to resume work on his YouTube channel for now. However, he says that in the future he would like to return to this work and continue running his channel.

Shlyakov also said that, during his imprisonment, the support of human rights defenders and letters from supporters helped him.

“It’s like a breath of air, a breath of freedom. Especially if a person is in a punishment cell or somewhere like that. It’s really helpful, there’s a lot of hope in these people, that they won’t abandon you,” he said.

The blogger had been in detention since August 2021. Initially, he was charged only with incitement to extremism (part 2 of article 280 of the Criminal Code), but later a new charge was brought—incitement to terrorism (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The prosecution was prompted by Shlyakov’s statements on his YouTube channel.

In 2022, a court in Moscow sentenced the blogger to four years in a general regime colony.

In addition, a case against Shlyakov was opened for slander against a judge (part 3 of article 298.1 of the Criminal Code). At the start of the legal proceedings he was offered a chance to have the case dropped due to the statute of limitations, but the blogger declined. In October 2023, he was sentenced to 300 hours of compulsory labour, but was released from punishment due to the statute of limitations. Court documents show that this case was also prompted by Shlyakov’s statements on his YouTube channel, in which he accused unnamed judges of taking bribes.

Before his arrest, Shlyakov ran an opposition YouTube channel, which had almost 25,000 subscribers. “His videos often featured unverified information—in particular, claims about China being ready to suppress protests in Khabarovsk, the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter from a vaccine, and so on,” wrote Kommersant. He also took part in street protests, including those in support of Alexei Navalny.