Man from Krasnodar dies in penal colony after being convicted over an image with Putin and a post about the war...

Man from Krasnodar dies in penal colony after being convicted over an image with Putin and a post about the war

41-year-old Vladimir Yarotsky took his own life in Correctional Colony No. 9 in Khadyzhensk, Krasnodar Krai, on the night of May 7.

Blogger Aleksandr Nozdrinov, who is serving a sentence in the same colony, said in a letter that Yarotsky had reported pressure from the colony administration.

The Krasnodar resident worked nights despite medical contraindications. After asking for his working conditions to be changed, he faced further pressure.

The persecution of Vladimir Yarotsky

Last spring, he was sentenced to 5.5 years in a penal colony on charges of military “fakes” and desecration of symbols of military glory.

Yarotsky was accused of “fakes” because of a certain post from September 2022. According to the investigation, he “posted false and entirely unsubstantiated information about the number of Russian Armed Forces servicemen killed and missing on the territory of Ukraine.”

The second charge was brought against him because of an image published on VKontakte: in it, an artist is painting a portrait of Putin from life, while a penis is depicted on the canvas. A St. George ribbon tied in the shape of a bow is attached both to Putin and to the penis. Under the image it says: “Smart people see that Putin is burying Russia alive, while fools are convinced that he is saving it...”

In 2024, Yarotsky was convicted in yet another case, for calls to terrorism. According to the investigation, he published a post calling for “an attempt on the life of the President of the Russian Federation in order to stop his activities and the SMO.” In that case, the Krasnodar resident was fined 350,000 rubles.

The announcement of Yarotsky’s sentence, May 2025 / Video by the Joint Press Service of the Courts of Krasnodar Krai

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