Nikita Tushkanov

He is a former school teacher in the town of Mikun (Komi). He was dismissed because he organised an anti-war action in Mikun. Nikita was a member of a search team, searching for unburied remains of soldiers and officers from the Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars. He is married.

In March 2022, four protocols were drawn up against Tushkanov because of his anti-war posts on VKontakte. He was charged with petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code), demonstration of Nazi symbols (Article 20.3), and two protocols for discrediting the Russian army (part 1 of Article 20.3.3). The criminal case on public justification of terrorism was initiated over a post containing a photo of the Crimean bridge explosion with an approving comment. Case materials also included his publications on the annexation of Crimea.

Tushkanov was detained after a search in his flat and taken for questioning to the local FSSB. His flat in Mikun was also searched. The next day the court placed him in custody. Later, it became known that a case of discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) was also opened due to a VKontakte post. In January 2023, he was forbidden from seeing relatives and denied permission to marry. In March 2023, pre-trial detention centre staff cut food sent by relatives into small pieces and shredded his jacket. According to his support group, this was an attempt to pressure him into cooperating with the investigation.

On 11 May 2023, Tushkanov was sentenced to 5.5 years in a general regime colony. On 25 September 2023, the appeal reduced the sentence to five years. In the colony, he was sent to SHIZO several times. In June 2023, he received the Boris Nemtsov Prize.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our database of politically motivated criminal prosecutions.