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The First Court of Cassation for General Jurisdiction has reduced the sentence of Usman Baratov, head of the Uzbek community association “Vatandosh,” to three years and two months in a low-security penal colony. This was reported by the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial,” citing lawyer Oksana Olgert.

The court reclassified the charge under the article on inciting hatred or enmity (paragraph “v” part 2 Article 282 of the Criminal Code), removing the classification of conspiracy with a group of people.

In August 2024, a court in Moscow Oblast sentenced Baratov to four years in a general-regime colony. The case against him was initiated by the order of Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin. As reported by the agency’s press office, Russian war correspondents appealed to Bastrykin, asking for a response to the man’s “offensive statements” about Russian servicemen. The prosecution was triggered by a meme featuring roosters on Odnoklassniki.

According to the investigation, in December the man posted news about rising egg prices in Russia, along with an image and the caption: “You’ll get nothing with butter, let alone eggs! Bring the roosters back from the frontline.” On the basis of a forensic psychological and linguistic examination, the prosecution determined that the post demeaned a group of people on social grounds—citizens of the Russian Federation and participants in the war in Ukraine.

Baratov stated that his page had been hacked and the post was published by someone else. In addition, he restricted access to his page, making it visible only to friends. On 19 January, he was sent to a pre-trial detention centre.

The man suffers from hypertension and needs to support himself against the wall when walking; the court allows him to speak while seated. Baratov said that in the temporary holding centre, after being beaten during his arrest, the staff would not let him remove his clothes to be examined by doctors.

In March 2025, it emerged that Baratov was facing criminal charges of disrupting the work of the penal colony (part 2 Article 321 of the Criminal Code). According to him, the new charges arose from a claim by a squad leader at Correctional Colony No. 4 in Novgorod Oblast, Northern Russia, who alleged that during a conversation through the food slot of the disciplinary cell, Baratov snatched a video recorder from him and threw it at his chest, causing pain. Baratov denies the allegations.