In Russia, a programmer was sentenced to prison for "treason"
The Irkutsk Regional Court in Russia has sentenced programmer Vadim Nekrashchuk to 13 years in a maximum-security prison on charges of treason. The court also ordered him to pay a fine of 268,000 rubles.
This was reported by Russian media.
According to the prosecution, the man allegedly photographed a military unit’s checkpoint and transmitted the geolocation to an unidentified individual believed to be a representative of Ukrainian intelligence.
The prosecutor sought a 15-year prison sentence for the defendant, but the court imposed a shorter term.
Nekraschuk was detained in the spring of 2025. In court, he stated that after his detention, FSB officers held him in isolation for a long time, applying psychological pressure and restricting his access to communication and the outside world.
According to him, he was later offered a choice between pretrial detention or participation in a state protection program involving residence in a safe house, where he remained for over three months. There, the defendant claims, he was completely isolated.
He also claimed that funds were stolen from his crypto wallet while law enforcement officials accessed his devices. According to media reports, some of these facts were allegedly confirmed, but no criminal proceedings were initiated.
The defense emphasized in court that information about the military facility mentioned in the case is public and available online.
Prior to this, the Basmanny Court of Moscow handed down a verdict in absentia against actor Artur Smolyaninov, sentencing him to 8 years in prison. The criminal case was prompted by his interview with the publication “Novaya Gazeta Europe,” in which he discussed the consequences of the Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih on December 16, 2022.
Russian theater and film actor Artur Smolyaninov, who was added to Russia’s list of “terrorists and extremists” for condemning the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was attacked by a Russian man in Germany. An unknown individual used profanity against the actor and threatened to “tear him to pieces” when he arrives in Russia.
Soviet and Russian actress and singer Alla Pugacheva stood by her husband, Maxim Galkin, and asked the Russian authorities to add her to the list of “foreign agents.”
