Student Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison on Terrorism Charges Over a Telegram Channel With Memes

A student was sentenced to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges over a Telegram channel with memes. He tried to take his own life in detention

On May 27, the Northern Fleet Military Court sentenced 23-year-old Murmansk Arctic University student Rafael Mamedov to 15 years in prison, Important Stories noticed. The young man was found guilty of treason and participation in a terrorist organization for administering the Telegram channel “Free Lapland”, which had 300 subscribers and was devoted to memes and facts from the history of the Murmansk region.

It became known in November 2025 that a terrorism case had been opened against Mamedov. Later, in May 2026, the student was also charged with treason.

In February 2026, a close relative of Mamedov said that the student had tried to take his own life twice.

The student made his first suicide attempt before his arrest, in May 2025. After his arrest in September, the student “cut his neck and arms” when he was brought to St. Petersburg for a forensic psychiatric examination. During the transfer back to Murmansk, Mamedov tried to hang himself with a belt.

🔵In the fall of 2024, the Supreme Court declared the “Forum of Free States of Post-Russia” and 172 of its “structural subdivisions” to be “terrorist organizations.” The list also included the “Free Lapland movement.”