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During the proceedings at the Kerch City Court, the prosecutor requested in absentia a sentence of nine years in a general regime penal colony for 28-year-old Liliya Khvylka, who is accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army (paragraph “d,” part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and possession of drugs (part 1, article 228 of the Criminal Code). Her lawyer shared this information with OVD-Info.
For the “fake news” charge, the request was for seven years in prison, and for the drug-related charge—two years and ten months. The prosecutor partially added up the sentences, requesting a total of nine years’ imprisonment.
The verdict is scheduled to be announced on 22 September.
The “fake news” charge is linked to a post published on Instagram on 9 April 2022. In it, Khvylka wrote about the missile strike on the railway station in Kramatorsk the previous day, in which 60 people were killed. She is also accused of possessing marijuana at home under the drugs article.
Khvylka does not admit guilt in either episode and insists that she initially gave self-incriminating statements under pressure.
The case against the woman was opened in summer 2022. On 15 August, she was detained, and the next day a court placed her under house arrest. In early October, Khvylka went into hiding.
Even before the criminal case was initiated, the Crimean resident was detained due to other anti-war posts. She was forced to apologise on camera “to Russian servicemen, their relatives, and other citizens of Russia,” and the video was circulated by pro-government media. At that time, Khvylka was jailed for 14 days under a protocol for drug use (article 6.9 of the Administrative Code), and was later fined 30,000 rubles (about US$325) under a protocol on “discrediting” the army (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). After this, Khvylka deleted all her posts and stopped writing about the war in Ukraine.
- The media outlet “Ostorozhno, novosti” reported that in the 2010s, Khvylka studied law in Saratov, a large city on the Volga River, and was an activist in the “Young Guard of United Russia” and LDPR movements. After finishing her studies, she returned to Kerch and ceased her activism. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Khvylka became active on social media, writing about the war and adding the Ukrainian flag to her profile picture. The outlet also noted that she had friends and acquaintances remaining in Ukraine.