Mariia Kartasheva

She left Russia about three years ago. She learned about the criminal case from her mother, who lives in Vladivostok; investigators called her. The case was opened in Moscow, and she was placed on the wanted list. Details are unknown. She speculated that her pickets outside the Russian Embassy in Canada may have been the reason, but it later emerged that the case was opened because of a Telegram post about the events in Bucha. On April 24, 2023, Kartasheva was arrested in absentia. On November 24, 2023, she was sentenced in absentia to eight years. Kartasheva later said that the verdict, for some unknown reason, mentioned Maxim Katz, who had previously been sentenced to the same term under the same article, and also stated that her YouTube channel was viewed by many people, even though she does not have a YouTube channel. From this, she concluded that the court "simply copied" portions of the Katz verdict into her own. On March 21, 2024, the appellate court overturned the verdict and remanded the case for a new trial. On July 1, 2024, Kartasheva was sentenced in absentia to seven years' imprisonment.