A suspended sentence has been changed to a real prison term for a bookseller from the Kostroma region in a case concerning “military ‘fakes.’”

In September, businessman Yan Kulikov was given a five-year suspended sentence under the law on “military fakes” (Article 207.3, part 2, point “d” of the Criminal Code). Today, an appeals court has toughened the sentence and handed down five years in a general regime penal colony, reports SOTAvision.

The businessman was not present at the hearing, as he is caring for his ill mother. The court has ordered him to be taken into custody if apprehended.

The case was initiated due to posts about the shelling of civilian targets in Ukraine by the Russian army.

“Sooner or later this would have happened. Before, it was mostly fear, probably because of uncertainty, but now it’s just apathy, sadness,” said Kulikov after the case was opened.

From the first days of the war, he had published pacifist posts and called for protest. Because of this, he was fined several times in administrative cases.

• Kulikov manages a small shop called “KnizhOchki” in Soligalich, a small town in Kostroma Oblast where he himself lives. Since the 2010s, the businessman has taken part in protests against corruption, and in 2017 campaigned for people to vote for Navalny in the presidential elections. Kulikov shared that residents of Soligalich “mocked” him, but regular customers supported him. In the region, he is also known for rescuing two children during a fire in 2021.