Igor Movenko

A resident of Sevastopol, in December 2016 he was detained by FSB officers and his flat was searched. The detention was accompanied by beatings and threats, Movenko was not allowed to call a lawyer. He was charged with public calls to extremism.

At one of court sessions Movenko said that he was forced by torture to confirm the authorship of comments on "VKontakte" social network. Movenko's wife believes that the prosecution was a revenge for the attempt to prosecute the law enforcers who had attacked her husband earlier.

The main evidence in this case was the expertise conducted by the FSB. During the court hearing it turned out that the person who conducted the linguistic expertise of Movenko's statements did not have a higher linguistic education. The court ignored the independent expertise.

On 5 May 2018, Movenko was sentenced to two years in a penal colony, despite the fact that the prosecution requested only a suspended sentence. According to the court decision, after being released, Movenko was deprived of 'the right to carry out activities related to access to information and communication networks' for six months.

On 26 June, the appellate court replaced Movenko's real term with a suspended one, but the activist was not brought to the trial. On 28 June, Movenko was released. On 28 June 2019, he left the territory of Crimea.

In September 2016 Movenko was beaten by law enforcers for Ukrainian symbols. He was diagnosed with craniocerebral trauma and damaged teeth, and required surgery on his nasal septum. Movenko tried to prosecute his attacker, but the court refused to consider his claim and fined Movenko himself under the administrative article on 'dissemination Nazi symbols'.