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The Novo-Savinovsky District Court of Kazan did not replace the suspended sentence with an actual prison sentence for activist Zulfia Sitdikova. SOTAvision reports.

The Federal Penitentiary Service filed the application due to “systematic violations of public order” while serving the suspended sentence, as the activist had been subject to administrative penalties.

In May 2024, Sitdikova was sentenced to two years’ suspended imprisonment with a four-year probation period for repeated “discrediting of the army” (Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code) and “rehabilitation of Nazism” (Article 354.1 Part 3), because of the posters “No to War” and “9 wая.”

Sitdikova was detained on 27 February 2025, when she and other activists were laying flowers in memory of Boris Nemtsov. That same evening, she was charged with violating the rules for holding public events, and the next day the activist was sentenced to a 10-day administrative arrest. The arrest was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Tatarstan. In August, a cassation court overturned the punishment and sent the case back for reconsideration.

In addition, in June 2025, she was fined 80,000 rubles (approx. US$900) under an administrative protocol for “discrediting the army” with calls for unsanctioned protests (Article 20.3.3 Part 2 of the Administrative Code). According to the court, Sitdikova photographed a person in Kazan, a major city on the Volga River, with a sign reading “No way forward, it’s time to turn back” and later posted the photo on an anonymous Telegram channel.

  • The activist was detained in late May 2023, but released from the police station without a protocol; the picket did not take place. On 18 July, it emerged that following this detention, a criminal case was opened against Sitdikova under the law on “discrediting,” her home was searched, after which she was released. The case also included a second episode involving a “No to War” poster left by the Eternal Flame in Kazan’s Victory Park.