A Ukrainian blogger named Yuri Podolyak was sentenced in absentia to twelve years in prison on charges of collaboration with Russia. The verdict was reported by TASS and cited the Ukrainian Sumy district prosecutor’s office as the source.
Along with the prison term, the court ordered confiscation of Podolyak’s property and barred him from occupying certain official positions for fifteen years. The Sumy provincial prosecutor’s office noted that Podolyak had relocated to Russia in 2014, which contextualizes the charges and the jurisdictional considerations involved in the case.
Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had brought treason accusations against Podolyak in absentia. The blogger responded to the court’s decision with irony, remarking that Ukraine’s handling of his case had stretched out for about a year and a half. He also suggested that there was little expectation of a thorough in-person investigation given the practical risk he might vanish again.
The broader context this year includes a string of convictions involving more than 220 members of the Ukrainian armed forces, as rendered by courts operating in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. These developments reflect the ongoing legal and political complexities in the region and the varied judicial paths pursued by authorities within and around the contested territories.
In a related note, the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic previously imposed a life sentence on an Azov Battalion fighter. The Azov unit remains a contentious designation, with its status and classification subject to international and regional debate, including within Russia where the group is banned as an extremist organization.