Vadim Kharchenko

A resident of Gelendzhik. An opposition blogger, labeled as a "foreign agent" on 20 January 2023.
On 12 February 2023, the first report about a possible criminal case on discrediting the Armed Forces against the blogger appeared on the Telegram channel "Good Gelendzhik". On 15 February, the channel also reported that he was placed under house arrest, but without specifying the source or providing evidence of this. On 20 February, the channel published, presumably, a brief fragment of the order on the initiation of criminal prosecution. Acquaintances expressed concern that they had not been able to reach Kharchenko for ten days. In early March, the same Telegram channel published information that Kharchenko had been seen in the city.
In January 2024, when the case came to court, it became known that Kharchenko was also charged under articles on insulting the feelings of believers, defamation involving an accusation of committing a crime against sexual inviolability, and calls for extremist activity.
At the end of July 2024, Kharchenko was sent to a pre-trial detention centre. In August, his lawyer said that inhumane conditions were intentionally created for the blogger: he was kept in solitary confinement in unsanitary conditions, in a damp basement without glass on the windows. Dust and dirt fly into the cell through the bars, and there is screaming and swearing in the neighboring cells at night. In addition, there is a constant, loud, and monotonous voice reading the rules and regulations of the pre-trial detention centre. The prisoner has chronic bronchitis and asthma, but he does not receive any medical care. On 14 August, it became known that Kharchenko was transferred to a cell with more favorable conditions.
On December 5, 2024, the court replaced the restrictive measure with a prohibition of certain actions. However, he was not released and was detained to later be taken into custody in a new case - on defamation of lawyer Yaroslav Krasnoshchekov, who was a victim in the first case. At the same time, the judge, who considered the first case, recused herself.
On 12 March 2025, Kharchenko was sentenced to seven years in a general regime penal colony in the case of discrediting the Armed Forces and other articles.

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