A court in St. Petersburg convicted and sentenced dual US-Russian citizen Yuri Malev to three and a half years in prison on charges of “rehabilitating Nazism” for social media posts allegedly disrespectful towards the military. Malev was detained on December 9 of last year for his posts made in June 2022 on the Russian website Odnoklassniki. The posts allegedly disrespected Saint George’s ribbon, a symbol of valor in Russian military service, by depicting the ribbon captioned with obscene language.
In a post made on May 8, 2023, right before Russia’s Victory Day, Malev again depicted the ribbon, this time on a corpse, with the caption, “How to wear the St. George’s ribbon correctly.”
This is yet another incident in a recent series of cases where individuals have been accused of disrespecting the military. For instance, in March, an independent newspaper was fined for “discrediting the armed forces” by publishing an article on military recruitment of orphans. Similarly, in February, human rights activist Oleg Orlov was sentenced to two years in a penal colony for discrediting the military.
Malev reportedly admitted to the offence. The crime of “rehabilitating Nazism” is punishable by up to five years in jail, and Malev is also barred from posting content online for a year and a half.
This conviction comes amid a series of arrests of dual US-Russia nationals, including journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was apprehended for failing to register as a foreign agent and for distributing anti-war literature. Similarly, Wall Street reporter Evan Gershkovich was charged with espionage and has been detained for a year, with his release requested by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The US State Department has said it is aware of Malev’s detention in Russia and a spokesperson confirmed that the Department works to provide appropriate assistance in cases of US citizens detained overseas.
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