Sergei Veselov

Host of the YouTube channel "That Same One Veselov". At the end of March 2022, a vandalism case was initiated against him over the inscription "No to war!". In July 2022, a case was also initiated against Veselov for discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces. The reason was the clips on Veselov's YouTube channel, to which 17 people are subscribed. The court prohibited a certain conduct for him, but later the Court of Appeal cancelled this decision. Another case of discrediting the use of the Armed Forces was initiated against Veselov in September. The reason for initiating the case was his speech at a hearing in the Court of Appeal on his administrative case of discrediting the army. All three criminal cases were merged. In December Veselov was charged with another case of discrediting the army, the reason was two videos on YouTube, published in August and September. The first video was published on Veselov's YouTube channel, the second – on the Opposition 2.0 YouTube channel, Veselov claims that he did not film and publish it, although the video includes the story of the search at his home. The accompanying text to the second video mentions Veselov's channel – in his opinion, this was the reason for the case. This case was also merged with the vandalism case and the first cases of discrediting the army. In addition, the charge of vandalism was reclassified from Part 1 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code to Part 2 (vandalism motivated by political hatred). Veselov was released under recognisance not to leave the country.

In addition, a case of insulting a judge (part 2 of Article 297 of the Criminal Code) was initiated against Veselov. The inciting incident was his video about the judge, who ruled to ban Veselov from certain conduct. On 22 August 2023, Veselov was sentenced in the case of insulting the judge to 300 hours of community service.

On 2 June, Veselov was detained and the next day arrested for eight days because he had previously told his subscribers about a rally in support of Alexei Navalny scheduled for June 4. The court found the blogger guilty of organising an uncoordinated public event (part 2 of article 20.2 of the Administrative Code).

At one of the court hearings on the criminal case of vandalism and discrediting of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the court excluded five psychological and linguistic expertises of Veselov's statements.

On October 5, 2023, Veselov's home was searched. It became known that two new cases were initiated against him – on the rehabilitation of Nazism and on discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Later, the investigation dropped the charge of rehabilitation of Nazism. On May 17, 2024, Veselov was sentenced in the case of discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to two years and one month in a settlement colony, taking into account the time not served on the sentence in the case of insulting the judge.

On January 22, 2024, Veselov was detained in Ivanovo on the charges of incitement to terrorism. He was taken into custody.

In April 2024 it became known that Veselov was beaten and doused with boiling water by a cellmate. Later, due to a conflict with another cellmate, he was sent to a disciplinary cell.

On June 6, 2024, it was reported that another case was initiated against Veselov, this time about confidential cooperation with a foreign state. Later, it was merged with the case of incitement to terrorism.

On June 26, 2024, Veselov was sentenced to a fine of 350,000 rubles in the case of vandalism and discrediting the Armed Forces; the vandalism case was dismissed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and Veselov was acquitted in one of the discrediting episodes. Another episode of discrediting was dropped by the prosecution itself in the debates.

On February 27, 2025, Veselov was sentenced to seven years in a general regime penal colony on the case of incitement to terrorism and confidential cooperation with a foreign state.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our politically motivated criminal prosecutions in Russia database