An Armenian native has been sentenced to a long term in the Russian Federation for comments on social media.

The Second Eastern District Military Court sentenced Armenian native Gevorg Grigoryan to nine and a half years in a penal colony, whose comments on social media were deemed by the prosecution as calls for terrorism and extremism.

Grigoryan, who lived in the Trans-Baikal Territory and held citizenship of Russia and Armenia, was tried on charges of spreading fakes about the Russian army, rehabilitating Nazism, as well as calls for terrorism and extremism.

Grigoryan was detained and placed under house arrest in June 2025, with the criminal case initiated due to anti-Russian comments on Armenian resources. In them, he wrote that "Hitler should have destroyed them all" or that "after Ukraine, Russian troops will enter Armenia," reports Mediazona*.

According to an acquaintance, Grigoryan wrote these comments because he was "upset that Moscow did not help his homeland in the war for Karabakh." Later, Grigoryan agreed with the charges and "repented of his words," the publication notes.

The Investigative Committee for the Trans-Baikal Territory stated on August 20, 2025, in a release about the detention of a local resident that he was accused of rehabilitating Nazism, inciting hatred, committed using the internet with justification or propaganda of violence.

"According to the investigation, since September 2023, the accused systematically posted public comments in one of the messengers containing offensive formulations that humiliate the dignity of a group of persons based on nationality, openly supported the ideology of Nazism, used Nazi slogans, and also spread messages whose content was aimed at inciting hatred and enmity on national grounds," the agency's message states.

Initially, Grigoryan was charged only with rehabilitating Nazism and inciting hatred, and he was to be tried in the Central District Court of Chita, but over time new articles appeared in the case, and in August 2026, the case was transferred to the district military court.

As a result, the Second Eastern District Military Court sentenced Grigoryan to nine and a half years of imprisonment. According to the criminal case card on the court's website, his case on criminal articles was submitted to the court on August 5, and the verdict was read out on October 20 by Judge Zyryanov.

In December 2025, Gevorg Grigoryan's data was entered into the register of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. The young man was born in Yerevan in 2003, and he turned 23 in June.

* included in the Russian register of foreign agents.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.