A former serviceman and online creator known for the Wild Paratrooper YouTube channel was given a prison term in a strict regime colony after a court in the Primorsky District of Novorossiysk found him guilty of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces through a video. The ruling, reported by the news agency, states that the sentence is one year and two months in a strict regime facility.
The defendant faced a second conviction under article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which covers public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces. He admitted to part of the content in the video, which was released on April 19, 2022. The individual has been detained since September 9, 2022, as the case progressed through the judicial process.
Details from the case indicate that the blogger had previously left military service in 2018, after a video surfaced in which he accused authorities of concealing data on casualties in the Ukraine conflict. A fine of 50,000 rubles was imposed at that time. The recent verdict adds a separate criminal finding related to online comments about the ongoing military activities.
In related developments, another figure connected to online media, Sergei Mihaylov, the founder and observer of the Listok newspaper in the Altai Republic, is facing legal action for allegedly spreading misinformation about the Russian Armed Forces. The cases highlight ongoing legal scrutiny of online content about national defense and military campaigns. [Citation]