A Russian journalist has been sentenced to a new prison term for the third time in three years
The Rubtsovsk City Court in the Altai Krai (Russian Federation) has handed down yet another guilty verdict against imprisoned Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko. This time, she was found guilty under the article on “the use of violence against an employee of an institution that ensures isolation from society, not dangerous to life or health.”
The court sentenced her to one year and 10 months in prison. Taking into account partial credit for time served on a previous sentence, the final prison term for the aggregate of sentences amounted to two years and three months in a general-regime penal colony.
For the journalist, this court decision marked her third criminal conviction in the last three years spent in the Russian penal system. The story of her politically motivated persecution unfolded according to the following chronological timeline:
April 2022 — Maria Ponomarenko was detained in St. Petersburg on charges of spreading military “fakes” about the Russian army. The case was triggered by her post on a Telegram channel about a deadly airstrike by Russian forces on the Drama Theater in Mariupol. In February 2023, a court sentenced her to six years in a general-regime penal colony.
In the fall of 2023, a second criminal case was opened against the journalist, who was being held in Pretrial Detention Center No. 2 in Biysk. She was accused of “assaulting” two employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) who were attempting to forcibly escort her to a disciplinary commission hearing. The trial concluded in March 2025 with a second sentence: one year and 10 months in a penal colony.
August 2025—the prison administration initiated a third criminal case under a similar charge regarding an alleged attack on a prison guard, for which she was convicted in June 2026.
Maria Ponomarenko herself and her defense attorneys categorically deny all charges of aggressive behavior or physical confrontation with prison guards during both incidents. The journalist has repeatedly spoken out about systematic psychological pressure, provocations by camp authorities, and the deliberate fabrication of reports aimed at endlessly extending her prison term due to her anti-war stance.
This was reported by the human rights project “Prison Lawyer.”
In Russia, a court handed down harsh sentences to two people accused of financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including a Ukrainian citizen residing in Moscow. Both were sentenced to long prison terms and fines, and the charges themselves relate to money transfers that investigators link to aid for the Ukrainian army, according to Russian media.
In Rostov-on-Don, a local court found Serhiy Korovainy guilty of so-called “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces due to a reaction in a building chat on the Max messenger app.
