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Roman Tyurin, aged 55, who was sentenced to six and a half years in a penal colony for comments made on social media, has died in custody. This was reported to OVD-Info by the author of the Telegram channel “Nastya and Prison.”

Last January, Anastasia sent a letter to SIZO-1 (pre-trial detention centre) in Omsk, congratulating Tyurin on his birthday—he would have turned 56 on 25 February. Yesterday, 14 January 2026—almost a year later—she received a reply from Correctional Colony No. 8, which is also located in Omsk, a large city in southwestern Siberia:

“We are returning the sealed envelope addressed to Roman Vladimirovich Tyurin. Tyurin R.V. died on 17.02.2025.”

The reply, which is at OVD-Info’s disposal, is dated 28 May 2025.

The cause of death of the man is unknown.

Tyurin had been in custody since at least February 2024. In July 2024, he was transferred from the pre-trial detention centre to a hospital. The reason for his hospitalisation is unknown.

In 2024, Tyurin was convicted in four separate criminal cases:

  • On 9 February, he was sentenced to four years in a general regime colony on charges of justifying terrorism (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code);
  • On 27 May, the Poltavsky District Court in Omsk Region issued a verdict under the article on “military fakes” (item “d” part 2 article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), increasing his sentence to six years in a penal colony;
  • On 3 October, the same court added a further three months to his term under a case about “discrediting the army” (part 1, article 280.3 of the Criminal Code);
  • On 18 November, the Poltavsky Court handed down a cumulative sentence of 6.5 years, finding Tyurin guilty of incitement to activities against state security (item “v” part 2, article 280.4 of the Criminal Code) and repeated display of banned symbols (part 1, article 282.4 of the Criminal Code).

For three of the cases, it is unknown exactly which publications triggered the criminal prosecution. The “discrediting the army” case was brought due to a post on Odnoklassniki: in July 2023, Tyurin shared a Telegram channel post from “Klyrik,” in which Russian soldiers were accused of looting in Enerhodar, Ukraine.

In 2023, before the criminal prosecution began, the man was held administratively liable for his posts under articles on discrediting the army (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) and displaying banned symbols (part 1, article 20.3 of the Administrative Code).

  • Until August 2023, Tyurin regularly published anti-war posts on Odnoklassniki, shared materials about the war in Ukraine, and criticised the Russian authorities. For his profile picture, he chose an image of yellow sunflowers against a blue sky, with a butterfly in the colours of the Ukrainian flag and the caption “Все буде Україна!” (“Everything will be Ukraine!”).