The head of the Moscow Zen Centre has been sentenced to six years in a penal colony over a case concerning “fake news” about the military.

After a new hearing, Moscow’s Preobrazhensky District Court has sentenced Buddhist and programmer Ilya Vasilyev (Arvi Hacker) to six years in a general-regime penal colony. His defence lawyer, Gevorg Aleksanyan, told OVD-Info about the sentencing.

Vasilyev was again found guilty of spreading so-called “fakes” about the Russian army motivated by hatred (para. “d” Part 2 Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code).

The prosecutor had requested eight years in a penal colony.

“What should he ‘realise’ over such a long term? Never call for peace again? I am sure that this article will be abolished one day, as it is unconstitutional,” Vasilyev’s lawyer said during arguments in court.

In June 2025, the programmer was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony in the same case. In October, that sentence was overturned. The Moscow City Court ruled that the first-instance court had violated Vasilyev’s right to defence: a defence team member without a law degree was not allowed to participate in the proceedings. Because of this, the case was sent for a retrial.

• The case against Vasilyev was launched over two Facebook posts in English. One referred to Vladimir Putin’s refusal to declare a Christmas truce in 2022, and the other talked about the shelling of Dnipro in January 2023. In the final charges, only the first post remained.
• While held in pre-trial detention, the programmer faced various forms of pressure: he was refused medical care, some letters were withheld, and in February 2025 Vasilyev was placed in solitary confinement for 15 days for not keeping his hands behind his back.

“Russian Inquisition.” Programmer from Moscow nearly became a Buddhist priest, but ended up in pre-trial detention over a “fake news” case “The only consolation is that I’ve stopped jumping at doorbells.”

OVD-Info

01 October 2024