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43-year-old painter Dmitry Orlov, who holds citizenship of both Russia and Ukraine, has been sentenced to three years in a general regime penal colony for comments calling for the execution of officials, reports “Bumaga.”

The sentence was handed down by the 1st Western District Military Court in St Petersburg. Orlov himself is from Cherepovets, a city in northwestern Russia; he is being held in Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 2 in Vologda and took part in the hearing via video link. The prosecutor had requested a four-year prison term for him.

The defendant stated that he regretted his actions: “My actions were a result of having been deeply misled. Over time, I came to realise on my own that I had behaved wrongly, understood my mistake, and unsubscribed from the channel [where I left the comment] in order to protect myself from negative content of that sort.”

A criminal case on charges of incitement to terrorism (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) was opened over comments that Orlov posted in the “Ne TV” Telegram channel from November to December 2023. These have since been deleted. According to case materials read out in court, in his comments Orlov called for the execution of all state officials and their relatives.

“And mass executions of all the scum from ‘United Russia,’ the Federation Council, the State Duma, ministers, all television workers, deputies of all parties, mistresses, grandchildren—all of them, like enemies of the people, without exception! All palaces, villas, residences—to become children’s homes, hospitals, sanatoria. Everything that was stolen—to the treasury! All car fleets—for the needs of the city, for buying fire engines, ambulances, snow ploughs, for helping agriculture, for developing villages,” wrote Orlov.

“I’m from Russia too. I wish for Putinism to fall in disgrace, to suffer the greatest losses in history, to be disarmed and brought to its knees, and then, for everyone who remains, to have all the crimes of Putinism broadcast 24/7, 365 days a year on every channel. Execute everyone involved, and show this to the ‘vatniks’ so that the desire to attack anyone disappears for about 150 years,” he said in another comment.

In testimony given during the investigation, Orlov explained that he wrote the comments because he was upset over his grandmother’s death from a shell explosion in 2023. He added that Telegram channels had misled him. He realised that they publish unverified information and that he needed to unsubscribe from them. He explained that he has a negative view of the policies of the Ukrainian authorities, who he said “undermine” “Putin’s attempts to resolve the conflict peacefully.”

  • Dmitry Orlov was born in Ukraine. In the 1990s and 2000s, he taught himself painting and worked on church restoration. In 2014, he moved to Cherepovets, a city in northwestern Russia, and found work as a painter. In 2021, Orlov obtained a Russian passport but did not renounce his Ukrainian citizenship.
  • According to Orlov’s lawyer, the man has health problems. He previously suffered a spinal injury and a spinal cord concussion. In 2010, a titanium structure was implanted in Orlov’s spine, which means he cannot stand or sit for long periods.