Switch Language

The Vyborg City Court of Leningrad Region has toughened the pre-trial restrictions for 61-year-old Oleg Mamporia, who is accused of repeatedly displaying banned insignia or symbols (Part 1, Article 282.4 of the Russian Criminal Code). This was reported by his lawyer from OVD-Info, Igor Skachko.

Mamporia has been transferred from house arrest to pre-trial detention. He will be held in Vyborg SIZO-3 (a pre-trial detention facility in the city of Vyborg, north-west Russia).

The court took this decision based on a report from the penal inspection authority, which claimed that the man had left comments on the internet, even though the terms of his house arrest prohibited this.

Mamporia was detained and placed under house arrest in April. The court has been reviewing his case since September.

The grounds for the criminal prosecution was a comment left in a chat on the Telegram channel “Vremya Sharikovykh.” According to law enforcement, Mamporia wrote “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to Ukraine”). The authorities attribute this slogan to the “Freedom of Russia” Legion, which is classified by Russia as a terrorist organisation.

  • In 2024, Mamporia was sentenced to 10 days’ detention under an administrative article on displaying banned symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences). The protocol was issued over a VKontakte post with the same slogan, in which he spoke about his Ukrainian roots and shared impressions of trips to Kyiv and Odesa.
  • He was also fined under an article on “discrediting the army” (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) over remarks made during an argument with a neighbour’s son-in-law, who had fought in Ukraine. Mamporia removed the letter Z from his car and accused Russian soldiers of killing civilians. The participant in the war in Ukraine subsequently reported Mamporia to the authorities.