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Grigorii Severin
Biography
A resident of Voronezh, he holds a PhD in Physics and Mathematics and is a civic activist. He has repeatedly faced pressure from the authorities. In November 2020, he was fined for taking part in a rally in support of residents of Khabarovsk Krai who were protesting against the arrest of the region’s former governor, Sergei Furgal. In January 2021, Severin was sentenced to five days of administrative detention for holding a solo picket in support of Alexei Navalny.
His criminal prosecution became known in February 2021. The case was based on a post published on VKontakte on 19 December 2019.
A resident of Voronezh, he holds a PhD in Physics and Mathematics and is a civic activist. He has repeatedly faced pressure from the authorities. In November 2020, he was fined for taking part in a rally in support of residents of Khabarovsk Krai who were protesting against the arrest of the region’s former governor, Sergei Furgal. In January 2021, Severin was sentenced to five days of administrative detention for holding a solo picket in support of Alexei Navalny.
His criminal prosecution became known in February 2021. The case was based on a post published on VKontakte on 19 December 2019. On that day, a resident of Podolsk, Yevgenii Maniurov, opened fire near the FSB building on Lubyanka Square. According to the investigation, Severin allegedly left a comment reading “slaughter the gebnya” (a derogatory term for the KGB) under a post about the shooting. He denied the charge, stating that he had not posted the alleged comment.
In addition, another criminal case was opened against him for insulting a public official after he posted a photograph taken during a search, captioned: “‘We’ll break through,’ said the condoms.”
On 23 August 2022, Severin was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a settlement colony. On 5 July 2023, at the request of the colony administration, a court ordered his transfer to a general-regime colony. This decision was upheld on appeal on 12 December, despite the fact that Severin had already been released on 4 August 2023.
On 22 August 2023, the court recalculated the time he had spent under house arrest at a rate of two days of house arrest for one day of imprisonment and ordered the released activist to serve an additional 84 days in the colony. On 14 December 2023, the appellate court overturned this decision and returned the case to the court of first instance. On 19 July 2024, the court once again ordered Severin to serve an additional 84 days in the colony. He was taken back into custody and sent to the colony. On 6 September 2024, Severin was released.
On 22 April 2025, Severin’s home was searched in connection with a criminal case for discrediting the use of the Russian army, allegedly based on conversations he had had with other inmates about the war while serving his sentence. The following day, he was taken into custody.